How do we change our economy to be more environmentally friendly? What do we need to do to mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions and climate impact?
I respectfully suggest the first thing we need to do is recognize the problem. The Conservative Plan to Combat Climate Change was released by Erin O’Toole last week. It starts with a quote: “We will fight climate change and protect the environment but we won’t do it on the backs of working Canadians”.
Good start but what exactly does the “backs of working Canadians” mean? And why then does the document come back on page 13 to the tired old mantra: “However, since Canada only produces less than two per cent of the global emissions…?”
Let’s consider our emissions. The document is right. We do produce just under two per cent of global emissions or just a bit more than two per cent depending upon how you count it. That doesn’t sound like a lot but it puts us seventh in the world and among the G20, trailing only Saudi Arabia.
Put another way, our annual per capita emissions are 20.94 tonnes, which is more than the USA (19.9 tonnes) and over double the UK’s (8.45 tonnes). The world average is 6.27 tonnes. In other words, we might be only two per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide equivalent emissions but we are full value for being gluttons.
To put it another context, according to the UN, between 1990 and 2018, the UK has seen its emissions drop from 797.8 Mt to 465.9 Mt with twice the population of Canada! The USA has remained roughly constant – 6,437.0 Mt to 6,676.6 Mt. But Canada has increased our inventory from 605.2 Mt to 729.3 Mt. For B.C., the numbers increase from 53 Mt to 66 Mt.
Saying we are “only 2% of the global emissions…” misses out on the fact that not only are we energy hogs but we aren’t really doing anything about it. Under both Liberal and Conservative governments, we simply do not have the vision or the leadership to truly transform our economy. And as the Conservative Plan points out, we will pay the price.
It says: “Climate change increases the risks of fires, droughts, flooding and extreme weather events. Canada is already demonstrably feeling the impact of this given the fact that insurance payouts due to environmental events – particularly flooding – have dramatically increased in the last 12 years.”
But to unpack that statement a bit, it recognizes the human damage occurring as a result of climate change but fails to understand the environmental damage. It is bit like someone saying: “I lost my 52-inch flat screen television when my house burnt down. Don’t know how I am going to live without my television.”
But at least the Conservative Party tried to recognize climate change is going to impact us all. It will make life more difficult. It will impact working Canadians. And it will do so in a way that will make it harder for the average working Canadian to maintain a North American standard of living.
So, if we want to keep living the life we have now, we need to look at countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, and the rest of Europe. And, I would argue, stop looking at the United States.
We need to consider changes to the building code, which would see new houses moving to better insulation standards. For example, passive house architecture can provide a warm, comfortable house with minimal heating. Even moving the bar to ensure all new homes meet more than the minimum standards would be a major step in the right direction. And it would stimulate economic growth through the construction industry.
We also need to invest in transportation infrastructure. Effective mass transit in larger cities and communities is critically important but the movement of freight between cities could also be more efficient. The difference between road, rail, marine, and air are significant. Road is 62 gCO2/tonne-km while rail is only 22 and marine is 8.4. Air is through the roof at 602 gCO2/tonne-km while utilizing pipelines is the most environmentally friendly option at 5 gCO2/tonne-km.
We should also be investing in developing capacity for the production of batteries and electric vehicles. If the free market won’t lay out the capital, maybe it is time for Canada to create a crown corporation to do so. At least that way we know the profits would come back to the taxpayers instead of being shipped overseas to avoid paying taxes.
My favorite lines in the Conservative Plan are on page 4 where we are assured carbon pricing will be affordable: “$20/tonne and increasing to $50/tonne but no further” but on page 6, we will “be prepared to set industrial carbon prices on a path to $170/tonne by 2030.”
Really?
