Three things Ottawa should be doing to fight climate change

This past week, I was in Guadalajara at the Climate Summit of the Americas, where I spoke on a panel about Canadian progress on addressing climate change. It’s certainly a timely subject.

Canada is at a historic crossroads in the fight against climate change. The federal government made a commitment in Paris in December to work to limit warming to less than 2 degrees C, and the plans to deliver on that commitment are now being hammered out.

Decisions made by federal and provincial governments over the coming months will determine if the country makes the right choices in terms of energy development, greenhouse gases emissions and the Canadian economy, or whether we continue to be a climate laggard, eschewing our global responsibility and forgoing game-changing economic opportunities. This may be the most important federal-provincial conversation in Canada since the creation of medicare.

In an ideal world, the federal government would have sat down with the provinces and developed a federal-provincial climate framework from scratch. But we don’t live in an ideal world.

Instead, we have a situation where the federal government has done very little over the past decade, while some provinces moved in to fill the void, enacting climate change legislation, pricing carbon emissions and, consequently, reducing greenhouse gases.

This was a good thing, since it meant there wasn’t a total vacuum on climate action in Canada. Some of the policy areas where carbon emissions can be reduced are in provincial jurisdiction in any case, including building codes, land use and transportation and transit planning, as well as actions at the municipal level. But it presents a challenge, too.

Those provinces that took action while the feds were MIA don’t want the federal government meddling in their affairs now that it’s ready to take action. But a hands-off approach can’t work, either. Not all provincial commitments are equal. Not all provinces have cut emissions. In fact, some provinces have done next to nothing. And, importantly, the sum of provincial commitments doesn’t equal what’s needed to meet Canada’s Paris pledge, which the current federal government has said is a bare minimum.

Ultimately, it’s the federal government that is responsible for meeting Canada’s international obligations. That means Ottawa clearly has some work to do.

So, where to from here? How can the federal government ensure that each province does its part and that as a country we don’t surpass Canada’s portion of the global emissions budget? Ottawa should do three things. First, it must take action in policy areas where it has jurisdiction. That includes improving vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from industry. A lot of attention has been paid to carbon pricing. Pricing is important, but it’s not everything. Smart regulations and forward-looking investments have a role to play, too.

Second, it must raise the level of ambition across the country in areas of both federal and provincial jurisdiction, by set- ting standards and extending assistance to provinces. That includes, for example, setting high energy-efficiency standards for new buildings and ensuring there’s a price on carbon across Canada at levels that will have a significant effect on carbon emissions.

Finally, it needs to ensure that it does all of this while levelling the playing field between sectors and provinces. Everyone must do their fair share if we are to get as far as we can, and the pan-Canadian system should move steadily toward one that is harmonized across the country.

To make it all work, there will have to be some financial assistance extended by the federal government. And, quite frankly, some arm-twisting, too.

The alternative is more stasis, a patchwork quilt of incoherent policies, a lack of focus on critical economic transformation and, finally, an ongoing failure to meet our international commitments and do our fair share to avoid dangerous levels of global warming.

Tim Gray is executive director of Environmental Defence.

Ultimately, it’s the federal government that is responsible for meeting Canada’s international obligations. That means Ottawa clearly has some work to do