Climate

What it takes for Canada to thrive in a net zero exporting world

If the climate challenge confronting Canada is evident, so too is the economic opportunity out there to be captured. The twin objectives are clear and measurable: We must meet our 2030 GHG emission reduction targets on the way to a net-zero future by 2050, and we must do it in a manner that ensures jobs, growth and a strong economy. The good news is that a sightline to that future – one where a national carbon management strategy is critical to meeting our objectives – is coming into clear focus.

The Public Policy Forum convened a roundtable discussion on June 16, 2021, to look at the development of a national adaptation strategy in Canada that spans disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation domains. The participants represented a range of public- and private-sector perspectives on the key challenges that need to be addressed to push towards greater resilience and adaptation and confront the challenges of climate change. The conversation also looked at the need to set clear time-bound targets and performance measures and ensure these are grounded in Canada’s Emergency Management Strategy. 

This paper reflects a strong consensus within the Energy Future Forum that any achievable pathway to national climate and economic objectives must include a significant contribution from carbon capture technologies and from utilization and storage. In any post-COVID, “green stimulus” planning, support for CCUS expansion is even more pivotal than before.

Canada desperately needs to matter more in the United States. After a run-up in the decade after NAFTA, our share of U.S. imports has fallen from roughly 16 per cent to 12 per cent since the Great Recession, leaving us behind both China and Mexico. Auto production, which for decades held fast well above the level guaranteed in the 1965 Auto Pact, was part of the descent.

There is a broadly based consensus in Canada that includes governments, Indigenous peoples, environmental groups, industry and other stakeholders that nature-based solutions will play a crucial role as Canada works to meet its climate change objectives. The Energy Future Forum (EFF) believes the agreement presents a rare and unique opportunity – one that Canada must seize as part of its climate change suite of policies.

COVID-19 has made it clear that Canada needs a strong domestic manufacturing sector to produce what it needs. Industrial production has been stagnant in the country for two decades and it’s a must for Canada to create and sustain a resilient manufacturing economy that will also be more competitive in a globalized economy and that will create good jobs while minimizing environmental impacts.

Carbon capture has a powerful allure. If there's too much CO2 in the atmosphere, why not remove the excess, and store it deep underground or use it in manufacturing other products? It sounds like a considerable solution on the way to a net zero carbon economy by 2050.

OPINION: Needed: A grand bargain on climate and energy. How: The Energy Future Forum brings together the players — from oil and gas producers to environmentalists, governments, bankers, utilities, academics and Indigenous leaders. The Mission: To find ways Canada can meet or exceed its targets under the Paris climate agreement on the way to a net-zero future, while strengthening the economy and enhancing national unity. When: Now.

On Nov. 13 in Calgary, Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney explored three forms of reconciliation for Alberta's provincial government: with Alberta’s Indigenous people, of energy growth and environmental stewardship, and of the provincial and federal fields within Canadian Confederation.