A Kyoto Protocol regulatory body will investigate Canada for issues relating to its database of greenhouse gas emissions.
"The question relates to Canada's national registry (not to accounting)," said an informal informational note by the enforcement branch of the Kyoto Protocol compliance committee.
"A national registry is a computerized system used to track holdings of greenhouse gas credits, similar to the computerized accounting system of a bank," the enforcement branch explained in a statement posted on Tuesday.
NDP Leader Jack Layton accused the Tories of compromising Canada's commitment to fighting climate change.
"Does the prime minister know no bounds when it comes to breaches of accountability," he asked in question period.
The prime minister suggested that the previous Liberal government did not act on the matter.
"Nothing was done on (the registry) for the first 10 years," he said.
"The Government of Canada is in the process of establishing (it) ... We've taken that responsibility and are moving forward."
At least one environmental group raised questions about how seriously Canada is taking its international obligations.
"What's really the point here is that this government doesn't think it's important to play by the international rules," John Bennett, executive director of Climate for Change, told The Canadian Press.
Canada is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, a climate change treaty that commits 38 countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about five per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Canada's target is a six per cent cut.
Among the obligations of Kyoto signatory nations is a national system of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions to show compliance with its Kyoto target and to account for any emissions credits.
The compliance committee will consider Canada's case in either late May or mid-June.
It could reach a preliminary ruling, but it could also agree to drop the issue.
The committee has found Greece to have violated its GHG monitoring obligations -- the first country to have officially found to be in non-compliance with a Kyoto obligation.
If the committee finds Canada is not in compliance, the committee can take the following steps:
- Make a public declaration of non-compliance
- Require it to submit an action plan within three months for getting back into compliance
- Suspend it from participating in any of Kyoto's emissions credits or carbon trading mechanisms
Canada does not currently participate in any of Kyoto's emissions credits or carbon trading programs.
While Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are currently about 25 per cent above 1990 levels, the committee said that won't be considered until 2012.
A country that misses its first Kyoto reduction target has 100 days to become compliant by buying emissions credits.
If it still isn't in compliance after that period, the difference will be tacked onto its target in the successor treaty plus a 30 per cent penalty. Such a country is also suspended from trading in emissions credits and must submit a action plan within three months on how it will meet its second commitment period targets.
The minority Conservative government has said it will not try to meet Canada's Kyoto target and rejects the purchasing of emissions credits. It has set a target of cutting GHG emissions to 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020. Critics say that would still be eight per cent above Canada's 2012 Kyoto target.
The committee considers its work to be similar to that of a court, and so it doesn't comment on its written statements.
