--- title: Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Announces That the Country Is Pulling Out of Kyoto Protocol description: PETER KENT, Canada's environment minister, announcing the country's formal withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada—unlike the U.S.—signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which required the... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7220042/canadian-environment-minister-peter-kent-announces-that-the-country-is-pulling-out-of-kyoto-protocol/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-12-12T23:04:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T15:05:17.189Z article:section: Science og:title: Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Announces That the Country Is Pulling Out of Kyoto Protocol og:description: PETER KENT, Canada's environment minister, announcing the country's formal withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada—unlike the U.S.—signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which required the... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7220042/canadian-environment-minister-peter-kent-announces-that-the-country-is-pulling-out-of-kyoto-protocol/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9c4e796d53d641c/6998b61dc8dcb4b34cb4e47a/86341857.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Canada og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Announces That the Country Is Pulling Out of Kyoto Protocol twitter:description: PETER KENT, Canada's environment minister, announcing the country's formal withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada—unlike the U.S.—signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which required the... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9c4e796d53d641c/6998b61dc8dcb4b34cb4e47a/86341857.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Announces That the Country Is Pulling Out of Kyoto Protocol by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 12, 2011 11:04 PM UTC  Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Canadian Environment Minister Peter KentWireImage / Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 12, 2011 11:04 PM UTC PETER KENT, Canada’s environment minister, announcing the country’s formal withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada—unlike the U.S.—signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which required the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 6% below 1990 levels by 2012\. But successive Canadian governments did little to cut emissions as the oil and gas industry exploded, and today Canada’s emissions are far above that target. Kent said that the government was formally withdrawing form Kyoto—the first country to do so—in order to avoid billions in penalties for failing to meet its targets. 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