Canada will commit to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the new target Friday during a press conference in Winnipeg.
Calling the target "fair and ambitious," the minister said the government will be implementing regulations in three different sectors to help reduce emissions.
Regulations will take aim at methane from the oil and gas sector, natural gas-fired electricity generation, and chemicals and nitrogen fertilizers.
She said the government will continue to reduce Canada's emissions through the Conservative's "responsible" sector-by-sector regulatory approach.
The targets are roughly in line with targets set by the U.S., which recently pledged to cut emissions by up to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025. The new Canadian target is weaker.
The world's largest scientific body on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has stated that emissions around the world must be cut between 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, if the planet is to be spared the worst consequences of global warming.
Environment Canada released a report last month that found that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions rose to 726 megatonnes between 2012 and 2013. This marked the fourth year in a row emissions increased.
Previously, Canada had committed to cut emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
Critics question pledge
NDP Environment Critic Megan Leslie said the opposition is not convinced that the Conservative government will deliver on its promise.
"I'm not confident that that promise will be able to be kept," she told reporters. "In fact, I'm confident that they have no intention of meeting that target. Let's look at the last targets they set, we're not even halfway there.
"Where's the plan?"
Environmental Defence, a non-profit environmental organization, also criticized the new target, calling it a "weak pledge."
"The Canadian government's climate change pledge to the world shows that it continues to ignore both the dangerous risks of climate change and the tremendous opportunities in the clean energy economy," it said in a statement.
Environmental Defence said that Canada will be attending the Paris climate summit in December with the weakest commitment, further cementing its "reputation as a climate laggard."
It also noted that the government failed to announce any regulations for the Alberta oilsands.
"Marking progress on climate change in Canada is virtually impossible without addressing this soaring source of pollution," the statement said.
With files from The Canadian Press
