OTTAWA, March 14 (UPI) -- Canada could be looking at a bill as high as $8.4 billion to meet its targets for fighting global warming under the Kyoto protocol.

It would be twice the amount Ottawa has budgeted for Kyoto to date, the Globe and Mail reported Monday.

The estimates were based on consultations between Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada, and a special Cabinet committee was briefed on the predicted costs last week.

The ballooning costs were based at least in part due to the country's faster-than-expected economic growth, which has led to increased greenhouse gas emissions. According to the protocol, Canada must cut greenhouse gas output to 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, and increased emissions mean that much more the country needs to cut.

"It's a political horror show," said one official, who noted Canada's finance minister recently presented Parliament with a budget allocating $4.1 billion over the next five years to the Kyoto

plan and other environmental programs.

"This is a big issue for ministers because it's a big fiscal issue," another official said.