Canada is withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol, according to its Environment Minister Peter Kent.

Kent, who just returned from an international climate-change summit in Durban, South Africa, announced the decision of the government in a press conference at the House of Commons on Monday citing the failure of the treaty and its disastrous repercussions to the country.

"Before this week, the Kyoto Protocol covered less than 30 percent of global emissions. Now it covers less than 13 percent -- and that number is only shrinking. The Kyoto Protocol does not cover the world's two largest emitters - the United States and China - and therefore will not work," declared Kent.

The U.S. has yet to ratify the anti-climate change treaty adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and took effect in February 2005. A total 191 countries have ratified the treaty which requires reduction of greenhouse as emission.

Kent said a new international climate change treaty that is fair and promotes economic growth is necessary.

"We remain committed to negotiating an international climate change agreement that works. That means getting a pact that involves all the major emitters. We will work toward this in the coming weeks and months," he said. "And Canada will continue to be willing partner with those looking to address Kyoto's many failings, while also ensuring major emitters live up to binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases."

Kent also admitted that Canada cannot meet the target greenhouse gas emissions set by the Kyoto Protocol and wants to avoid paying the penalty. He said that to meet the target by 2012, the end of term of the protocol, Canada will have to remove every car, truck, ATV, tractor, ambulance, police car and vehicle of every kind from Canadian roads, or close down the entire farming and agricultural sector and cut heat to every home, office, hospital, factory and building in Canada.

Canada is facing a fine of $13.5 billion, which Kent said will be paid to other countries. He said this meant that each Canadian family will pay $1,500.

"As such, we are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto. This decision formalizes what we have said since 2006 that we will not implement the Kyoto Protocol," he said.

The secretariat implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to which the Kyoto Protocol is part of, regretted Canada's decision to withdraw.

But UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said that "whether or not Canada is a party to the Kyoto Protocol, it has a legal obligation under the Convention to reduce its emissions, and a moral obligation to itself and future generations to lead in the global effort."

Peter Kent, head of Environment Canada.