The UN climate chief has voiced regret over Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and says the country still has legal obligations to work against global warming. Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, also expressed surprise that Canada chose to announce its decision just after more than 190 countries reached a hard-fought accord in Durban, South Africa.
Canada last Monday became the first country formally to quit the landmark Kyoto Protocol as it sought to avoid paying penalties of up to $US14 billion ($A13.94 billion) for missing targets on cutting carbon emissions. But Canada, like virtually all countries, remains part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – set up by the 1992 Rio Earth Summit which called in broad terms for global action against human-caused global warming.