OTTAWA - The federal government has announced stricter standards on oil-sands projects and coal plants built after 2011 as a key plank of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

After that point the oil-and-gas and coal sectors will be forced to employ carbon capture and storage or other green technologies by 2018 in each of those new developments.

Environment Minister John Baird described the measures as part of a get-tough approach with the oil industry. His critics in opposition and in the environmental movement dismissed that as empty rhetoric.

While the government promises to enforce tough new rules at home, it's been lobbying the U.S. administration to relax the environmental standards of its Energy Independence and Security Act.

"The government claims to care about pollution from the tar sands," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.

"We hear that today, but let us just look at the truth of the matter, because what the Conservative members are saying does not amount to anything more than hot air."

The timing of the announcement held some political benefits for the government.

After days of being pelted over scandal in the House of Commons and facing an NDP non-confidence motion over its handling of the environment, the government fought back with a good-news green message.

The Tories reaffirmed Monday that 16 different industrial sectors will share similar targets: 18 per cent cuts in emission intensity by 2010, with absolute annual cuts of two per cent thereafter.

The government says those cuts would result in a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases from 2006 levels by 2020. But countries that have respected the Kyoto accord calculate their emissions cuts using 1990 as a baseline year - not 2006.

More detailed targets for individual companies - along with the penalties for missing them - will only be published later in the year.

"We are taking real action," Baird said.

"(This is) the toughest action ever taken in Canadian history and among the toughest industry regulations in the world."

The government says the new requirements on the oil-and-gas and coal sectors will by themselves account for more than half of the total cuts expected from industry by 2020.

The announcement Monday also carried additional information for companies that will be subjected to the new regulations.

To help them achieve their targets, companies that over-pollute will be able to buy offset credits in environmental programs that reduce emissions elsewhere.

The offset system will be administered through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and eligible programs will need to be verified and approved by Environment Canada.

The government would then issue offset credits to companies - with each credit representing one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Environment Canada will publish eligibility guidelines for project developers by this summer, and will begin reviewing specific projects by the fall.

Also Monday, the government said it will give industries credit for past steps taken to reduce emissions.

Companies that took action between 1992 and 2006 must prove their actions went beyond usual business conditions, and will be eligible for a one-time maximum credit of 15 megatonnes spread over three years.

Environmental groups said there's no indication from Monday's announcements how existing tar sands projects would see their pollution curbed.

If anything, one said, they just encourage oil companies to develop faster to avoid the stricter regulations that will come into force over the coming decade.

"The message here is basically, 'Get your shovels in the ground,' " said Dale Marshall of the Suzuki Institute.

"Look at these rules - they don't do anything. . . They aren't intended to slow down the tar sands in any way."