Annual Report 2019: Letter from the Chair

Climate and Energy Livable Cities Pollution Water

This marks our final annual report, as the Commission comes to the end of our five-year mandate. In 2019, our work focussed once again on carbon pricing — a topic we first addressed in 2014 and have returned to regularly. Since our launch, the political landscape around carbon has changed significantly — and so has […]

A final note on Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission

Climate and Energy Livable Cities Pollution

This week, Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission released its final report. While we have a few loose ends to tie up in 2020, the report signals the end of our research mandate. Over the last five years, we’ve contributed to policy conversations across Canada about water, waste, traffic, risk, and climate change. I’d like to think that […]

Think big, start small: Eliminating traffic in Canada’s biggest cities by putting a price on it

Livable Cities

Imagine your daily commute with no traffic. Cars, buses, and trucks still fill the roads, but everyone is moving at speed. Instead of taking half-an-hour to get to school, the office, or worksite, you get there in a cool 10 minutes. Your coffee or tea is still piping hot when you arrive. This future is […]

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 […]

Carbon pricing works in Japan

Climate and Energy Livable Cities

Cities stand on the front lines of climate change. They’re responsible for over 70% of global emissions and they’ll bear the brunt of damages that result. They’re also laboratories for climate policy, from ultra-low emissions zones to net-zero buildings to literal urban jungles, and now, carbon pricing. As part of our long-standing series on international […]

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