The move came 13 days before the next UN climate change summit in Cancun.

The motion called for a reduction of Canadian greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels. It had no legal weight but would have pressured the government to explain its lesser emissions reduction target.

The legislation was passed by the House of Commons one year ago with the support of all three of Canada's opposition parties, and reintroduced and passed again in May but was quashed in the Conservative-dominated Senate late Tuesday.

New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton said he was "appalled" to learn of its defeat in a surprise Senate vote. "This is a very sad day for Canada, for the environment, and for the role of Canada in the international stage on dealing with the crisis of climate change," he told reporters.

The Harper government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020, leading to a 60-70 percent reduction from 2006 levels by 2050.

But the figures are less significant when compared to the efforts of other nations and political-economic blocs -- notably the European Union, which is to cut emissions by up to 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, as required by the Kyoto Protocol.

If pegged to 1990 levels, Canadian carbon reductions would amount to a mere three percent, critics note. And carbon emissions are currently up more than 35 percent from 1990.

earlier related report
India faces warming climate, study says
New Delhi (UPI) Nov 17, 2010 - India could become 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by 2030 compared to 1970s levels, leading to changes in rainfall patterns and more severe floods and droughts, a new study says.

The "Climate Change and India: a 4x4 Assessment" study addresses agriculture, water, natural ecosystems and biodiversity as well as health in four climate sensitive-regions in India: the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, coastal areas and the northeast.

Conducted by 220 Indian scientists and 120 research institutions for the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment, a governmental organization, the study predicts an increase in rainfall, particularly in the Himalayas, with extreme precipitation to increase by up to 10 days in all regions of India.

While occurrences of cyclones are expected to decrease, the report says, the storms are expected to increase in intensity.

The report says droughts are expected to become worse in the Himalayan region, with flooding likely to worsen by around 10 to 30 percent in all other regions.

The sea level along India's 4,660-mile coast has been rising at a rate of 0.05 of an inch a year and is likely to continue in tandem with future rises of the global sea level, the report says.

As for health, the incidence of malaria will increase in the Himalayan region though it will come down in the coastal belts by 2030 because of changes in moisture and temperatures caused by climate change.

"There is no country in the world that is as vulnerable, on so many dimensions, to climate change as India is," Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said following the release of the report on Tuesday, Press Trust of India reports. "This makes it imperative for us to have sound evidence-based assessments on the impact of climate change."

The study comes ahead of the U.N. climate summit beginning Nov. 29 in Cancun, Mexico, where nations will attempt again to reach a global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Ramesh has recently signaled a willingness to tone down India's demands in Cancun, after having been blamed, along with China, for preventing the adoption of a legally binding agreement at the U.N. summit in Denmark last December.

"We are running out of time. Cancun is the last chance. The credibility of the climate-change mechanism is at stake," said Ramesh, India's Daily News and Analysis reported last week.

"All the countries have made changes in their positions, barring a couple of developed ones, and shown considerable flexibility," he said.

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