Re: Environment to be a factor in B.C. election (Nov. 14, 2016).
At the Marrakech Climate Change Conference, the B.C. government received the United Nations' Momentum for Change award for its carbon tax. As a climate policy that saw carbon pollution decline while the province's economy grew, the revenue-neutral tax deserves the plaudits.
Until it was frozen in 2012, the carbon tax served as an effective example of carbon pricing. It remains a model that can and should be replicated across Canada and internationally.
But meeting climate targets requires more than one good policy.
On its own, B.C.'s carbon tax is not enough.
A climate plan must contain other important ingredients, such as regulations to target emissions reductions in specific sectors, incentives to change behaviour, and targeted support for clean energy technology. While B.C.'s carbon tax should be celebrated, the province's recent track record on climate action should not.
The new climate plan that B.C. put forward in August doesn't see emissions start to decline until 2030 and only slowly at that - far too little and late for B.C. to do its fair share in the Canadian effort.
Now more than ever, we need to see leadership on climate, especially at the sub-national level.
Josha MacNab, B.C. director
Pembina Institute, Vancouver
