Achieving a Balance: Four Challenges for Canada in the Next Decade – Keeping pace with the new global economy
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In the global economy, knowledge and technology are being substituted for materials. The economic advantage is going to those who provide services and employ new ideas and techniques, not simply new resources. Globalization has also heightened awareness that long-term survival and prosperity are linked to the ability to produce goods without destroying the planet's "natural capital."
While this trend may be good for the environment, it may pose a significant challenge for Canada, whose economy has traditionally been resource-intensive.
An important element of these changes is increased conversion to a reuse/recycle economy. The Worldwatch Institute notes that 56 percent of the steel produced in the United States now comes from scrap, and the mills are located far from traditional coal and iron sources. In 1997, British Petroleum declared that climate change could no longer be ignored, and began to transform itself from an oil and gas company to a sustainable energy company, beginning with a US$1 billion investment in solar and wind power research. Alberta's TransAlta Inc. has invested in wind energy as part of a C$100 million commitment to sustainable development. 3M Corporation's Pollution Prevention Pays program has reduced polluting emissions by more than 750,000 metric tons since 1975 by cleaning up and redesigning processes and products, saving the company more than US$790 million. Despite developments such as these, it is not well understood by Canadians that economic growth will depend less and less on resources in the future.
Canada's resource-intensive economy must diversify more to be successful in the new global economy. Successful industries will also be those that minimize waste and maximize the productivity of resources. To navigate these changes, governments must support training for our workforce and provide market incentives for change.
Jobs will be affected by these developments. Training a skilled workforce is going to become imperative for Canada in the next decade. To prepare, we need better tools to gauge our current and future policies and approaches.
"(T)he unexpectedly large improvements to be gained by resource productivity offer an entirely new terrain for business invention, growth, and development. Its advantages can also dispel the long-held belief that core business values and environmental responsibility are incompatible or at odds."
Amory Lovins,
Presenter to the NRTEE, November 1999
The National Round Table also recommends that more market mechanisms, such as emissions trading systems, be adopted by government, and that fiscal policies be assessed and redesigned to benefit the environment and the economy.
The National Round Table has embarked on a major effort to develop better indicators of the draw-down of our natural capital, as a complement to conventional measures of economic growth such as GNP. As well, it is pioneering the application of waste and energy minimization measures within firms.
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