Canada will do exactly the same as the United States in its policy on cutting greenhouse gases despite international pressure for it to set tougher targets, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Friday.

Canada will follow US President Barack Obama's lead at next week's Copenhagen climate summit, and will propose to do no more, no less, than its neighbor, Prentice said in a speech to a Montreal business audience Friday.

He explained that Canada could not do more than the United States because it would "suffer economic pain for no real environmental gain" if it took a more aggressive approach. On the other hand, it would face punitive measures if it did less.

"Given the integration of our two economies it is essential our targets remain in line -- not more, not less," Prentice said. "It all comes down to jobs."

He brushed off critics of his government's positions on climate change, saying he would stick to his convictions despite international pressure at Copenhagen.

The Conservative government gave up Canada's Kyoto commitments made under the former Liberal government and put forward a so-called "Made-in-Canada" plan on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from the 2006 level, which translates to only 2 percent reduction based on the 1990 level, a benchmark used by the Kyoto Protocol.

The goal has been widely criticized as being too low, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also said previously that Canada's target is similar to that of the US Obama administration and it has no plan to make any major adjustments as it goes to Copenhagen.

With a mere population of 33 million, Canada stands seventh in the net volume of heat-trapping gases it emits every year. Canada's per capita emissions are the third highest in the world after Australia and the United States, according to World Wild life Fund Canada.

In recent years, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise with total emissions climbing 26 percent between1990 and 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2009)