Climate change is too costly to ignore
Between Earth Day and recent reports from the UN, we have reached a critical moment in deciding how Canada will face the climate crisis. From rising inflation to soaring prices for home and flood insurance to the cost of recovery after unprecedented storms and wildfires, climate change is creating a financial burden.
Canadians are increasingly feeling the pain of rising household costs caused by Canada’s reliance on carbon-emitting energy, the interests of international oil producers and climate change-exacerbated disasters.
Extreme weather, made worse by the heat-trapping emissions, played a pivotal role in the growth of 2021 inflation.
All around the world, we are seeing alarming weather events impact raw materials supply, which in turn lifts prices in Canada. This is especially true in our food production: in 2021, prices for bakery products rose 4.7 per cent due to droughts that reduce wheat crop yields, and major heat conditions have taken a toll on canola production, causing prices to surge over the past few years.
If that wasn’t enough, the cost of rebuilding from climate-related storms, floods and wildfires is skyrocketing. Here, in Ontario, extreme weather could add up to $6 billion beyond the current annual expenses of maintaining public buildings.
As climate change affects our quality of life, how bad are we willing to let things get? Unless we quickly reduce the heattrapping gases that warm our world, climate catastrophes will soon outpace our ability to recover and adapt, and the financial costs will keep rising.
Air pollution from fossil fuels is linked to millions of deaths worldwide, yet polluting industries continue to get a free pass to emit heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, which will lead to yet more warming. This in turn exacerbates the extreme weather and climate disasters already harming us. This market failure means the true cost of carbon is being paid elsewhere. Frontline communities are disproportionately vulnerable to the first and worst impacts of climate change; small towns are struggling to rebuild, and people are burdened with soaring homeowner insurance and flood insurance in places once deemed low risk.
Canadians are losing out to a complicated and volatile global fossil fuel market, yet coal, oil, and natural gas received $5.9 trillion in subsidies in 2020. Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine threatens Europe’s dependence on natural gas. Experts agree a faster transition to clean energy would lead to more stable energy economies worldwide.
Encouragingly, a new report from Stanford University demonstrates transitioning away from fossil fuels to cleaner renewables would reduce per capita household annual energy costs by around 63 per cent. It would also create millions of new jobs and save lives by reducing pollution. With clean energy destined to become cheaper and more popular, alongside a growing market for electric vehicles, the demand for fossil fuels will lessen over time, helping to slash the prices of carbon-intensive sources of energy along the way.
Volunteers with Citizens’ Climate Lobby are opposed to the new $7.1 billion federal oil and gas subsidy. These funds could be used to support the transition to renewable energies and eco-friendly infrastructure, which is a more sustainable economic decision.
The transition to cheaper, reliable, greener energy is already happening, but it needs to happen faster. Our elected leaders must make sound economic decisions to secure a livable world and leave Canadians with more cash in their pockets, too.