Open Letter on Carbon Pricing READ

Climate Change

Dec 13 2017

Unpacking climate policy jargon

by
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 5 2017

Saskatchewan remains an outlier on carbon pricing

by
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 […]

Nov 22 2017

Details matter for Nova Scotia’s cap-and-trade system

by
Climate and Energy

Nova Scotia is moving forward with a provincial cap-and-trade system. It’s great the province is embracing carbon pricing, and Ontario and Quebec have shown that cap-and-trade can work. Still, choosing carbon pricing is just the first step. Carbon pricing is the lowest-cost approach to reducing GHG emissions—but only if it’s designed well. What do we […]

Oct 3 2017

Opinion: Carbon pricing can reduce GHG emissions and maintain healthy economic performance, but only if done right

by , and
Climate and Energy

Carbon pricing is coming to the Atlantic provinces. They are part of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCF), which kicks in by 2018 and requires carbon pricing across the country. This is a good thing: a decade of experience in Canadian provinces shows that carbon pricing can reduce GHG emissions and […]

policy interactions
Sep 20 2017

A delicate (im)balance: policy interactions and the federal Clean Fuel Standard

by
Climate and Energy

Since releasing our report on complementary climate policies, we’ve written a lot about the importance of policy interactions and their implications for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness (see here and here). But one issue we haven’t yet discussed is how policy interactions can affect Canadian federalism. Interactions between provincial carbon pricing policies and federal non-pricing policies can […]

Image of forest fire
Jul 19 2017

How can climate policy reduce our vulnerability to forest fires? It’s a complex equation

by
Climate and Energy Pollution

The B.C. wildfires continue to rage, displacing tens of thousands and bringing the incredible human costs into fresh focus. Forests cover almost 35% of Canada. They are both a tremendous asset and a source of disaster. In the face of climate change, scenes similar to those in Inland B.C. will increase in frequency. How do […]

© Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission