Problematic new study overestimates effects of carbon pricing in Canada

Climate and Energy

Yesterday, the Conference Board of Canada released an analysis of the impacts of carbon pricing on Canadian industry called Tipping the Scales: Assessing carbon competitiveness and leakage potential for Canada’s EITEIs. The report explains and unpacks some key nuances around competitiveness and leakage. But shortcomings in its framing and methodology ultimately detract from its accuracy […]

New Brunswick embraces carbon pricing; it should choose wisely

Climate and Energy

Last week, in response to the results of the federal election, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs announced he would look at options for implementing a carbon price in his province. It’s a policy shift that embraces a core principle of the Pan-Canadian Framework: provinces creating their own, tailored approach to pricing carbon. A made-in-New-Brunswick approach […]

Introducing TIER – Alberta’s new approach to pricing industrial GHG emissions

Climate and Energy

Yesterday, the government of Alberta unveiled the details of its planned Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation (TIER for short). TIER will put a price on industrial GHG emissions in the province, replacing the previous government’s Carbon Competitiveness Incentive Regulation (CCIR). How does the policy design stack up?  In this blog, I review some of […]

Optimizing Extended Producer Responsibility in Canada

Livable Cities

Extended Producer Responsibility has big potential (see my last blog). But getting the details right is critical. If programs are designed well, EPR could radically improve how Canada recycles. Done poorly, it could make recycling more complicated and more costly, with few environmental benefits. Where do Canadian EPR programs stand? Here we look at the […]

The Case for Extended Producer Responsibility in Canada

Livable Cities

Recycling appears to be broken in Canada. In 2016, a dismal 9% of our plastic waste was recycled. More recently, recycling programs have struggled since China—the world’s biggest recycler—stopped buying unprocessed plastics, paper, and metals. Some local recycling programs have ground to a halt as a result, while other programs are stockpiling, burning, and landfilling […]