Parallel Paths – 5.0 A Transitional Policy Option for Canada
The NRTEE’s role is to consider environmental and economic considerations together when offering policy advice to governments. Climate change policy must fundamentally integrate the two if it is to be successful.
Our goal is to find options that positively integrate both perspectives. In doing so, Canada can make progress on both short- and long-term GHG emission reductions while ensuring our economy continues to prosper. The Round Table’s approach is pragmatic, optimistic, and innovative. We seek to build on current climate policy foundations with new thinking and analysis that will assist policy makers to move forward. This chapter considers a new policy option that could help Canada manage the risks that emerge from uncertain U.S. policy. It would provide a path forward for Canada if the U.S. delays implementing a national climate policy. It also reinforces a key recommendation from the NRTEE report Achieving 2050 — that a national, economy-wide cap-and-trade system be implemented as soon as possible, in anticipation of eventual linkage with a U.S. system. It would allow Canada to make real, tangible progress on reducing our carbon emissions and provide an opportunity to develop a made-in-Canada approach, while transitioning to ongoing harmonization with the United States, maintaining competitiveness, and addressing regional and industry sector concerns.
© 2013