Ottawa is missing the boat on climate change
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/221119
Jun 04, 2007 04:30 AM
David Crane
A key to dealing with climate change is to design new technologies, from innovations for energy efficiency, new forms of clean energy such as fuel cells, or ways to make energy products such as coal and oil "clean."
Ideally, this should not only help curb and then cut the level of greenhouse gas emissions that threaten to trigger devastating climate change, but also to create all kinds of new business opportunities for companies that come up with solutions, along with new jobs for Canadians.
But for that to happen, as the Conference Board of Canada says in a new report, "Canada's Energy Future," we need a strategy. And for all the PR efforts by the Harper government to make its climate change action plan seem bolder than it really is, it does not have a strategy that will lead to an energy technology revolution.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper likes to talk about Canada as "a clean energy superpower." Today it is anything but that given the enormous greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands plants and continued use of coal for electricity.
In fact, it is next to impossible to figure out what the government's spending plans are for energy research and development and what priorities it has, if any. John Tak, president of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada, for example, worries that the Harper government may be planning to cut support for fuel cell development from an already low level.
Yet if Canada is to participate in an energy technology revolution, several things must happen.
First, there must be a real determination to cut greenhouse gas emissions with serious targets and strong financial penalties. Only in this way will a market be created that will lead businesses to make the necessary investments.
Second, there must be adequate funding and regulatory provisions to finance the development of new technologies and the construction of demonstration projects.
Canada does not appear to have either of these.
The Pembina Institute, Canada's most important independent energy think tank, has issued a devastating report on the Harper government's climate change plan, calling the targets too low and the explanation as to how it would meet its national emission reduction targets "dubious."
A key part of the climate change strategy is to reduce the emissions of what are known as large emitters – businesses that use high volumes of energy and spin off large amounts of greenhouse gases, such as oil sands plants, mineral smelters and coal-burning electricity plants.
But the federal plan has made huge concessions to the oil industry, especially the oil-sands plants that account for a growing share of our greenhouse gas emissions.
The Pembina Institute argues that the Harper government plan would reduce emissions of large emitters by as little as 27 megatonnes in 2010-12, compared to 180 megatonnes under the Liberal plan scrapped by the Tories. Under the Harper plan, industry would be able to lower emissions by paying into a technology fund to develop new and clean energy systems.
But the price for carbon is set so low – $15 a tonne of carbon dioxide in 2010-12 and $20, adjusted for inflation, in 2015.
The International Energy Agency has said that a price of $25 (U.S.) is the minimum needed to lead companies to invest in new technologies and at the same time to encourage companies to invest in the research and development to generate new technologies.
Dealing with climate change is both a necessity and an opportunity. But Canada will lose in both ways if Ottawa is more intent on minimizing the need and neglecting the opportunity.
David Crane can be reached at
