Acknowledgements
Framing the Future: Embracing the Low-Carbon Economy
The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRT) would like to thank the many experts, stakeholders, consultants, and government officials who informed the research and convening that helped shape this report.
We are especially grateful to our regional partners who provided the NRT with insightful input and were instrumental in convening experts and stakeholders across the country. Many thanks to the Canada West Foundation, the Mowat Centre, Écotech Québec, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. Their advice and involvement in the regional aspects of this initiative were invaluable.
Over the course of this project, we heard from close to 150 stakeholders from the private sector, governments, NGOs, and academia through a total of 13 sessions across Canada. Sincere thanks to the people who took the time to participate in these sessions; your insights were instrumental in developing our research findings.
This report required a solid foundation of original economic modelling and analysis. This pioneering work was conducted by several leading Canadian energy/environment researchers and modellers. Our thanks go to the Delphi Group (Bruce Dudley and Brad Fowler), EnviroEconomics (Dave Sawyer), Navius Research Inc. (Noel Melton and Chris Bataille), and Stiebert Consulting (Seton Stiebert).
We would also like to thank a number of additional consultants who assisted the NRT with various aspects of this initiative: Aaron Cosbey from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) deserves a special mention for his work on trade-related risks and opportunities; Céline Bak (Analytica Advisors) provided information on the state-of-play of Canadian clean technology SMEs; Deborah Murphy and Hilary Hove from IISD conducted a review of governance approaches for low-carbon growth; and Len Coad from The Conference Board of Canada provided an assessment of the state-of-play for low-carbon innovation and investment in Canada. These contributions provided a strong research base for this report. In addition, we recognize the important contribution of several peer reviewers who assisted the NRT in honing both its analysis and the final report.
The NRT would like to acknowledge the efforts of the secretariat staff in the research and convening that made this report possible. Many thanks go to Denise Edwards, administrative assistant, for the organization of the stakeholder and expert sessions. The communications team — Marie-Josée Lapointe, Tony Bégin, Edwin Smith, Richard Pilon, and Nadra Meigag — provided support to the project and managed the design and production of the report.
We thank David McLaughlin, our former President and CEO, without whose leadership this report would not have been possible. David was the driving force behind this report and the NRT’s Climate Prosperity series. He relentlessly engaged experts and stakeholders in Canada and abroad in a thoughtful reflection about the global transition to a low-carbon economy. His passion for this policy issue and his insightful contributions were critical to both the vision for this work and its successful completion.
Finally, we thank and acknowledge the contribution of John Cuddihy, who took over this project in March 2011 and brought it to fruition amid significant changes to the policy team and the announcement of the closure of the NRT. We also wish to thank other past and current members of the policy team who contributed to the research, convening, analysis, and writing of the report. Thank you to Jill Baker, Dale Beugin, Joelle Boutin, René Drolet, Jimena Eyzaguirre, Isabella Kavafian, Suzanne Loney, Alex Long, and Sumeet Tandon. The dedication of the team in bringing this report to fruition has been exemplary.