The Canadian Electricity Association is calling for action by all participants – Ottawa, the provinces and territories, the private sector and individual Canadians- in the federal government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Canadian Climate Action: Clean Power and Consensus Building, released June 28, calls on all levels of government to forge a broad national support which will stand the test of time and scrutiny by striking a balance between climate action and keeping costs affordable for businesses and consumers. Policies to those ends must be long-term, and the strategy must also offer policy stability, predictability and flexibility.
CEA President and CEO, and former Cabinet minister Sergio Marchi, introduced the organization’s approach by saying, “We must have a clear-eyed national conversation about the costs of our climate actions, including the costs of inaction. And to do so, at the front end of the journey.” Noting that “as our largest trading partner: withdraws from climate efforts, lowers tax rates, streamlines regulatory regimes, initiates retaliatory trade actions, renegotiates NAFTA, and, potentially, introduces a Border Adjustment Tax, collectively, this poses a risk to Canadian businesses and their competitiveness. ... This matter requires serious attention, and a stiff backbone.”
The CEA is recommending five “critical areas” for governments to focus on:
• Mitigation of competitiveness impacts by governments’ use of their fiscal and regulatory tools.
• Reduction of regulatory barriers to clean energy projects by facilitating infrastructure renewal and modernization.
• Addressing the innovation gap: “There is a disconnect between federal government policies that prioritize innovation, and provincial and territorial regulatory decisions which routinely reject innovative pilots, aimed at deploying new technologies.”
• Supporting and sustaining a clean energy transition in northern and remote communities.
• Building and sustaining a broad national support on climate action and clean growth founded on an ongoing public education campaign.
As the CEA observes in its discussion paper, “Ultimately, it is the government’s duty to set the level of ambition, define the public policy framework and support key projects and initiatives. Industry’s role is to invest, innovate and implement these decisions. And it is the public’s responsibility to actively engage in the process and understand the implications. There is no way around it. Consumers will need to take on higher electricity prices than they have been accustomed to for long-term clean energy solutions to become a reality. Canadians will also need to weigh the costs of not pursuing a clean energy trajectory. This must be discussed openly and candidly at the front-end of our climate change strategies.”
Ottawa’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, published in January, sets out four main pillars for the federal government in collaboration with the provinces and territories:
• pricing carbon pollution
• complementary measures to further reduce emissions across the economy;
• measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience; and
• actions to accelerate innovation, support clean technology, and create jobs.
The Framework lists a number of programs and activities being undertaken, collaboratively and individually, by the federal government and various provinces and territories. Actions include energy conservation and efficiency, clean energy technology and innovation, and deployment of energy to people and global markets.
As the Framework says, modernizing electricity systems will involve expanding energy storage, updating infrastructure, and deploying smart-grid technologies to improve the reliability and stability of electric grids and to allow more renewable power to be added.
Under the heading of New Actions – in the electricity generation sector, the federal website lists activities under a few headings and some developments, for example:
• Accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal units across Canada, by 2030.
• Setting performance standards for natural gas-fired electricity generation.
• Increasing the use of clean electricity across Canada, including through additional investments in research, development, and demonstration activities.
• The federal government is creating the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which will work with provinces, territories, and municipalities to further the reach of government funding directed to infrastructure, including clean electricity systems.
• Promoting community-based energy generation – for example, in 2015 New Brunswick introduced legislation to allow local entities (universities, non-profit organizations, cooperatives, First Nations, and municipalities) to develop renewable energy sourced electricity generation in their communities.
• Supporting, at federal and provincial level, the demonstration and deployment of smart-grid technologies that help electric systems make better use of renewable-energy, facilitate the integration of energy storage for renewables, and help expand renewable power capacity.
• Under Transportation; putting more zero-emission vehicles on the road, which for the electric power sector will mean at least a different supply and demand curve, if not increased demand and additional generation. Québec, for example, has committed to increasing the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in Québec to 100 000 by 2020.
Visit https://www.canada.ca > Environment and natural resources > Weather, climate and hazards > Climate change > Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change for details of activities under the various sectors.
The Pan-Canadian Framework on Climate Change is available at www.canada.ca > Environment and natural resources > Weather, climate and hazards > Climate change.