It’s time to shift our perspective from ‘disaster management’ to climate resilience
From last week’s ‘bomb cyclone’ causing record-breaking floods in the U.S. Midwest, to the World Economic Forum’s recent warning that extreme weather events are the most threatening global risks this year, news on the climate change front isn’t good these days. Last fall, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that the impacts of climate […]
Zero-emission vehicle subsidies and home heating tax exemptions: both fail the test
Two recent announcements—one by the Liberals and one by the Conservatives—show that neither party has cornered the market on bad ideas for spending taxpayers’ money. In the 2019 budget, the government announced a subsidy of up to $5,000 to encourage consumers to purchase electric-battery or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Canada already has experience with these types […]
Ill-defined ‘green economy’ remains a distant target, imprecise and uncertain and with no clear path or guidelines
Only a few years ago, discussions of the green economy were genteel and very Canadian. Discussions focused on recycling, urban transit, downstream plans for carbon reduction and, in the 2015 federal election, a quasi-serious conversation about a carbon tax and the largely marginalized proposals outlined in the Leap Manifesto. Discussions about the 2015 Paris Agreement […]
A burning issue: as greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires grow, Ottawa has role to play in restoration
As one of the largest and the most extensively forested countries in the world, Canada faces unique challenges in tackling climate change. Wildfires are burning more forests than ever as temperature and precipitation patterns change. In the process, millions of tonnes of carbon are released, pushing global greenhouse gas emissions higher. As a signatory to […]
Canada’s climate counting problem
Canada’s greenhouse gas emission targets are wrong—not because they are too tough or not tough enough, but because they are based on the wrong measurement. The measurement approach adopted by the global community through the Paris Agreement only counts GHG emissions that occur where products are produced, but not where they are consumed. This means […]
Mass timber construction has the world moving quickly to building with more wood
Canada’s forestry and construction sectors of the economy have the potential to be major contributors to reducing greenhouse gases, but some things will have to change. For most of the 20th century, Canada’s forests were a significant carbon sink, but in recent decades this situation has reversed. As forest fires have become larger and more […]
It’s not a matter of if we move to a green economy, it’s a matter of how fast can we get there
I have been reading and writing articles about the green economy for decades. We have all the positive good news buzz of more jobs in the green economy, great clean tech in the green economy, and so on—but still the old fossil fuel economy maintains its death grip on our future. As Greta Thunberg said […]
Green Economy Policy Briefing
SNC-Lavalin affair distracts feds’ attention from China dispute, say analysts
The SNC-Lavalin controversy is reducing the federal government’s bandwidth to respond to the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Canada and China, say two professors who study the Asian country. University of British Columbia professor Paul Evans and Brock University professor Charles Burton debated each other on whether China is Canada’s friend or foe today at the […]
Liberals propose national school meal program as Canada remains back of pack on children’s nutrition
The Liberal government has proposed creating a national school meal program, which, if implemented, would see Canada join most other advanced economies in the world in having a countrywide school food initiative. In yesterday’s federal budget, the government announced its “intention to work with provinces and territories towards the creation of a National School Food […]
