Canada's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol marks a slap in the face for marathon efforts to bring all countries under one legal roof in the fight against climate change, but the impact may be limited.

Canada on Monday became the first country formally to quit the landmark 1997 treaty on global warming as it sought to avoid paying penalties of up to CAN$14 billion (US$13.6 billion) for missing targets on cutting carbon emissions.

The decision by conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government came barely a day after UN talks in Durban, South Africa ended in a general agreement to put all nations eventually under one climate treaty.

Environmentalists say that binding action is vital to achieving the types of emission cuts that scientists warn are needed if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including growing natural disasters.

Josh Laughren, director of WWF-Canada's climate and energy program, said that the decision "really relegates Canada to the margins" of international climate diplomacy.

"On the heels of a fragile agreement in Durban, it doesn't breed hope. But in the end, even legally binding international treaties and protocols are only as good as the will of governments to implement them," he said.

Canada joins the United States as the only major industrialized nation to shun the Kyoto Protocol. Former president George W. Bush rejected the treaty after taking office in 2001, saying it was unfair by making no demands of emerging countries such as China and India.

Canada's decision set off a storm of international protest. French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called the announcement "bad news for the fight against climate change."

China, which is the world's largest emitter and has only reluctantly agreed to Western-led efforts to seek a global pact on climate change, urged Canada to "face up to its responsibilities and obligations" and "honor its commitments."

Elizabeth May, the leader of Canada's Green Party, said that she was worried about her country's reputation, asking in parliament in Ottawa: "Who will ever think we're a trustworthy nation again?"

But some experts doubted the impact of the move, noting that Canada accounts for around two percent of global emissions blamed for climate change and that the European Union and Japan have vowed to meet Kyoto commitments.

Alden Meyer of the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, which supports action on climate change, said Canada was an "aberration" in the global trend.

"Canada is really an insignificant player in terms of emissions and in diplomatic leadership in this process," Meyer said.

Harper has sought to boost oil production from tar sands -- a highly dirty method -- and export it to the United States through a controversial extension to the Keystone pipeline.

"Canada's decision didn't come as a surprise as it is already regarded as an international climate scofflaw," Meyer said.

Others argued that Kyoto's model was increasingly irrelevant in any case, with little likelihood that the United States or China would sign up to binding commitments in a future treaty.

"Canada is simply recognizing what we all have come to learn," said William Antholis, managing director of The Brookings Institution think-tank and co-author of a book on the tense 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

"Kyoto's signature contribution was to recognize the importance of acting on climate change," Antholis said.

"But we live in a post-Kyoto world, where what people actually do is far more important than intricate legally binding commitments that are neither legal, binding or real commitments," he said.

The United States under President Barack Obama has pledged to do its part to curb emissions but it has balked at accepting obligations under a new treaty, which few expect would stand a chance in a deeply skeptical Congress.

With its move, Canada replaces Australia which for years offered the United States company to be the sole opponents of the Kyoto Protocol.

But Australia's Labor government shifted course and entered Kyoto when it took office in 2007, with Kevin Rudd formally joining Kyoto as one of his first acts after becoming prime minister.

Canada's Kyoto withdrawal criticized by China
Ottawa (AFP) Dec 13, 2011 - Canada's historic decision to withdraw from the Kyoto protocol provoked heavy criticism from China on Tuesday, with Beijing saying the move went against international efforts to combat climate change.

Canada on Monday became the first country to declare it was formally exiting the pact, a reversal that will save it billions of dollars in fines, and poured scorn on the landmark treaty for hampering attempts to tackle pollution.

The decision reflected the reality of Canada's rising greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997, is the only global treaty that sets down targeted curbs in global emissions, but those curbs apply only to rich countries, excluding the United States, which refused to ratify the accord.

"We are invoking Canada's legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto," Environment Minister Peter Kent said after returning home from a marathon UN climate conference in South Africa, at which nations agreed to a new roadmap for worldwide action.

"Kyoto is not the path forward for a global solution to climate change," Kent said. "If anything, it's an impediment.

"A new agreement with legally binding commitments for all major emitters that allows us as a country to continue to generate jobs and economic growth represents the path forward."

But China, the world's largest carbon emitter, hit out at Canada, with foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin describing Ottawa's decision as being "against the efforts of the international community," and "regrettable."

"We hope Canada will face up to its responsibilities and obligations, honor its commitments and actively participate in relevant international cooperation against climate change," Liu told a regular media briefing in Beijing.

China has always insisted that as a developing country it should be exempt from binding obligations on emissions.

Japan, meanwhile, said Canada's withdrawal was "disappointing," and noted that it was "indispensable that each country makes efforts" on climate change.

"I hope Canada will address the issue in a forward-looking manner," Japan's Environment Minister Goshi Hosono told reporters.

Canada agreed under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce CO2 emissions to 6.0 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, but its emissions of the gasses blamed for damaging Earth's fragile climate system have instead increased sharply.

Saying the targets agreed to by a previous Liberal administration were unattainable, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last year unveiled its own measures aimed at curbing emissions, in line with US efforts.

Pulling out of Kyoto now allows Canada to avoid paying penalties of up to CAN$14 billion (US$13.6 billion) for missing its targets.

Kent also cited major impacts on Canada's economy that will be avoided by withdrawing from the treaty.

"Under Kyoto, Canada is facing radical and irresponsible choices if we're to avoid punishing multi-billion-dollar payments," Kent said, noting that Canada produces barely two percent of global emissions.

"To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of either removing every car, truck, ATV, tractor, ambulance, police car, and vehicle of every kind from Canadian roads or closing down the entire farming and agricultural sector and cutting heat to every home, office, hospital, factory, and building in Canada."

For Kyoto supporters, the anticipated Canadian pullout was expected to be a symbolic blow and badly damage a UN climate process already weakened by divisions.

Last week at the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, Kent had already said that Kyoto was "in the past" for Canada.

The conference on Sunday approved a roadmap towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof.

Kent said that in the meantime, Canada would continue to try to reduce its emissions under a domestic plan that calls for a 20 percent cut from 2006 levels by 2020, or as critics point out, a mere three percent from 1990 levels.

The latest data last year showed that Canadian carbon emissions were currently up more than 35 percent from 1990.