The letter, circulated by WWF-Canada and released December 3rd, is signed by some of Canada's most internationally recognized environmental researchers. The letter states that Canada's current policy, which amounts to a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2.7 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, will not be enough to forestall rapid climate change. The letter goes on to state that greater reductions, in the range of 25 to 40 per cent, will be required to keep global warming to less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

"We're seeing no movement on the part of our politicians and yet pretty well all of the science out since about 2007 has indicated that climate change is moving faster than we thought," states David Schindler, professor at University of Alberta who helped draft the letter.

The letter was released 4 days before start of the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.