Open Letter on Carbon Pricing READ

Climate and Energy

Feb 7 2018

Albertans are environmentalists (even if they don’t know it)

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Climate and Energy Livable Cities Pollution

Canada is a decentralized, sparsely populated and very, very big country. Cultures and attitudes are often regional. Provinces don’t always see eye to eye. As an Albertan living in Ontario, these challenges have become evident in my ongoing dialogue with Albertans—especially when it comes to climate and carbon pricing. It can, on occasion, feel like we […]

Feb 6 2018

Annual Report 2017: Letter from the Chair and Executive Director

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Climate and Energy Livable Cities Pollution Water

When we first started putting the Ecofiscal Commission together in 2013, our goal was to spark discussion. Economists were already talking about using economic instruments to address environmental issues, but we wanted to add “ecofiscal solutions” to the vocabulary of everyday Canadians and the agendas of governments across the country. Today, more than halfway through […]

Pulp and paper mill with smoke, demonstrating Carbon pricing; Pan-Canadian Framework; stringency
Dec 20 2017

Maintaining momentum: only additional emission reductions, please

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Climate and Energy

Today, the federal government sent letters to its provincial counterparts laying out a timeline for implementing pan-Canadian carbon pricing. It lays out timing for federal legislation, for the provinces to demonstrate that their provincial policies are consistent with the federal standard, and for the federal backstop to kick in if they aren’t. Clearly laying out […]

Dec 13 2017

Unpacking climate policy jargon

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Climate and Energy Pollution

Climate policy can be complicated—especially if you’re talking to economists. Carbon pricing? Complementary policies? Marginal abatement costs? Let’s unpack some of this jargon in the simplest ways possible. What’s the problem? Negative externalities occur when someone’s actions impose costs on others. For example, consuming energy creates pollution, which has costs. Health impacts from air pollution […]

Dec 7 2017

Output-based pricing in the real world

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Climate and Energy Technology and Innovation

This week, Alberta released its Carbon Competitiveness Incentive policy, which lays out the mechanics of its output-based pricing (OBP) system. We’ve talked a lot of about output-based pricing (also known as “output-based allocations” or OBAs) here at Ecofiscal as a sensible way to maintain incentives to reduce emissions, while also addressing concerns around leakage and […]

Dec 5 2017

Saskatchewan remains an outlier on carbon pricing

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Climate and Energy Pollution

On Monday, the Saskatchewan government unveiled its Made-in-Saskatchewan Climate Change Strategy. As expected, it does not feature a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, but does include a form of carbon pricing. There are many details that remain undefined in the Strategy, but let’s unpack a few key elements. Missing piece Since refusing to sign […]

© Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission