Canada will likely have to buy greenhouse-gas credits in order to meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, says Industry Minister David Emerson in The Globe and Mail.

The government will table its Kyoto implementation plan today. The plan calls for between $10 billion to $12 billion in spending over the next five years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But the money for emissions-cutting projects, along with tax incentives for industries to cut down on their emissions, might not be enough to do the job.

Emerson said even with those initiatives, Canada will probably have to purchase so-called greenhouse gas credits from abroad in about five to seven years, reports The Globe.

"International purchases may be an important part of (meeting our requirements) in the first Kyoto period," Emerson told the House environment committee on Tuesday.

Countries unable to meet their targets under the protocol can purchase credits from countries that have exceeded their required cuts.

Emerson did not provide details on how much Canada would have to spend on credits, but he added he's not certain that Canadian industries will take full advantage of the incentives Ottawa is offering.

The Kyoto plan seeks to cut 270 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually between 2008 and 2012.

That's an increase from the 240 megatonnes in cuts specified in the original 2002 plan.

The increase was necessary because emissions in Canada have actually risen significantly since the 2002 plan was drawn up.

Critics say the standards placed on industry are useless because they're strictly voluntary.

The auto industry signed a pact with the government earlier this month to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles over the next five years. The industry is to reach an annual reduction of 5.3 million tonnes by 2010.

But some environmental groups slammed the agreement, saying it isn't legally binding and can be cancelled by the industry or government on 90 days notice.

Ken Ogilvie, executive director of Pollution Probe, called the plan "weak."

"It provides no accountability or consequences if the targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions are not achieved," he said.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said voluntary standards will do nothing to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

"We believe that mandatory emissions reductions standards, such as they have in California, are what Canada should have," he said.

Conservatives, meanwhile, have expressed concern that the Kyoto Protocol will cripple some Canadian industries facing stiff competition in the U.S.

"We are all after the same goal. We want to reduce emissions," Calgary Tory Lee Richardson is quoted as saying in The Globe. "But we don't want to destroy our economy getting there."

The Kyoto treaty requires Canada to cut emissions six per cent from 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012.

The plan also calls for:

• 55 to 85 megatonnes in reductions through a Partnership Fund, projected to get up to $3 billion in funding by 2010.
• Facilities like refineries, cement plants and power stations to cut emissions by 39 megatonnes. Nine megatonnes of that amount could be obtained through investments in a technology fund, rather than through direct cuts in pollution.
• 20 megatonnes in reductions through "carbon sinks" in agriculture and forestry.
• 15 megatonnes in reductions through renewable sources of power such as wind and solar.
• 10 megatonnes in reductions through the One-Tonne Challenge -- which asks every Canadian to cut one tonne in greenhouse gas emissions.
• 5.3 megatonnes in reductions through the introduction of more efficient cars and trucks.

With files from The Canadian Press