As a developed country, Canada has pledged to take a leading role in addressing the climate crisis. Having signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed to a six per cent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. But despite the best intentions of successive governments, there has been virtually no progress on implementation of a comprehensive climate change regime at the federal level. In fact, since 1990, Canada’s GHG emissions have risen over 30 per cent.
As of December 2008, the Government of Canada maintained that Canada was not in a position to comply with its Kyoto obligations. Instead,it proposed the Turning the Corner cap-and-trade system plan, based on a 20 per cent reduction in emissions from 2006 levels by 2020. The plan has raised the concerns of environmentalists, opposition parties and other countries who disagree with Canada’s abandonment of its Kyoto commitment, its intensity based approach which measures reductions per unit of output, and with the designation of 2006 as the base year. Further to points raised by David Pamenter in his article on cleantech, political uncertainty in Ottawa and the economic challenges of a recession suggest that Canada’s federal decisions will depend on the development of emissions-related U.S. policies over the first few months of 2009.
Certain provincial governments have already made progress on the issue. A carbon tax has been implemented in B.C., and Alberta has established a cap-and-trade program with an offset system whereby GHG reductions made in unregulated sectors can create “offset credits” to be sold to regulated entities for compliance. Alberta has also pledged billions to the research and development of carbon capture and storage technologies, enabling the underground sequestering of GHG emissions to prevent them from entering the atmosphere. Québec has implemented a carbon tax, and other provinces are engaged in various incentivebased and educational programs. Ontario and Québec have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a bilateral cap-and-trade system. They will likely work toward this goal as members of the Western Climate Initiative, an agreement signed with partner jurisdictions in the U.S. to create a cross-border regional cap-and-trade system that would be operational by 2012.
While some believe that the current recession presents a new obstacle to progress on carbon reduction measures, there is a growing realization that climate change presents a long- term challenge which must be met. Even in the volatile economic environment of 2008, the annual Carbon Disclosure Project survey has grown in scope and engagement, a sign that business leaders across a range of industries are acknowledging carbon risks and opportunities. Despite concern over the economy and the wait-and-see approach of federal government politicians, action to address climate change is happening now, and with increasing rapidity, on a voluntary and regulated basis in Canada and in other nations. The stakes are considered too high to continue with business as usual.
Originally published on http://www.gowlings.com.
By Laura Zizzo
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