OTTAWA – Canada yesterday condemned a series of elaborate hoax e-mails and a fake website story that claimed the country would cut emissions of greenhouse gases by a much greater amount than announced.
Officials said they believed environmental activists were responsible for the hoax, which emerged as delegates from around the world negotiated in Copenhagen on a successor to the Kyoto climate change accord.
Canada is under heavy fire from green campaigners, who say Ottawa’s pledge to cut emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020 is grossly inadequate.
The initial e-mail, purporting to come from the federal environment ministry, said Canada would set binding emissions reductions targets of 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80 per cent by 2050.
It also announced Canada would give billions of dollars to African countries for emissions-reduction strategies and provided a link to a fake federal environment website. A second e-mail, also supposedly from the environment ministry, apologised for the hoax and linked to a fake Wall Street Journal story based on the first e-mail as well as a fake United Nations site.
The office of prime minister Stephen Harper was not amused.
“Time would be better used by supporting Canada’s efforts to reach an agreement instead of sending out hoax press releases”, wrote a spokesman in an e-mail accusing Canadian green campaigner Steven Guilbeault of being responsible. – (Reuters)