"Unique" Canada to tell G8 leaving Kyoto can work

BERLIN, June 6 (Reuters) Canada, which in April walked away from international targets for cutting greenhouse gases, will test the patience of major allies this week by arguing its approach can help forge a new global climate change deal.

Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases are 35 per cent above where they should be in 2012, when the first stage of the Kyoto Protocol expires. Emissions will climb as the energy industry - a major polluter - excavates oil-rich tar sands to feed US markets.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says sticking to targets set in Kyoto would cripple the country. Canada has instead produced a plan with much less stringent short-term targets which he will present at a summit of the Group of Eight countries in Germany.

Detractors say Harper is following the lead of US President George W Bush who has refused to implement the Kyoto agreement - the UN blueprint for tackling global warming.

Harper's message is simple - Canada deserves a break at the summit, where climate change is top of the agenda.

''Canada is a country with a growing economy, a growing population and a major energy sector so ... we're special, we're unique in the G8,'' said a senior Canadian official.

''We'll be looking for a result that both advances things on an international level but also is true to Canadian requirements,'' he told reporters.

This could be tough to sell to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said on Monday that ''of course at this point we are not happy that Canada has abandoned Kyoto's goals''.

A senior diplomat from a European G8 member told Reuters: ''The concept of special treatment doesn't cut much ice with anyone.'' CANADIAN PLAN Harper's plan initially aims to reduce the intensity of emissions rather than curb output, an approach decried by green activists. Yet he says Canada will meet the EU's long-term goals for slashing emissions by 2050 and paints his nation as a ''green energy superpower'' that can help others.

''There are elements of our plan that we believe could work not just for Canada, but for many countries in the world, including some of the large emitters that did not accept targets under the Kyoto Protocol,'' he said on Monday. These include China, India and the United States.

''(Our approach) allows growing and developing countries to engage in significant greenhouse gas reductions without putting themselves at immediate risk,'' he added.

Therefore, the argument goes, countries now outside Kyoto would join a new international agreement by first committing to milder measures than dictated by the pre sent protocol.

Harper believes this would produce a global deal with more members than Kyoto and one which would eventually cut greenhouse gases. The doubters are not convinced.

''I'm not sure he (Harper) has the credibility to play a bridging role on this issue. He doesn't have an established enough of a record to be able to exercise leverage on climate change,'' said the G8 diplomat.

Last year Canada exported 87 billion Canadian dollar worth of energy, virtually all of it to the United States. Canada is the single largest supplier of energy to its giant neighbour.

''We are so wedded to the US economy ... (that) we're going to be a cue taker when it comes to US policies on energy and the environment,'' said Fen Hampson, a professor of international relations at Carleton University in Ottawa.

''The North American energy policy will be crafted in Washington ... Harper in that sense is a consummate realist.'' REUTERS KN VV1646