Climate change funding up in the air

Climate change initiatives will be on the chopping block this month, as the federal government plans to slash 59 per cent of funding dedicated to reducing Canada’s carbon footprint.

The Clean Air Agenda includes 45 programs across four federal departments focused on climate change and clean air initiatives.

Over half of these cuts are directed towards the Clean Air Agenda, a 2007 plan to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2020.

“[These budget cuts] are a cause for concern,” says NDP MP Linda Duncan. “If there’s any area where the federal government needs to take action, it’s the climate.”

According to the 2011-12 spending estimates released on March 8, the Agenda will lose $145.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year that starts April 1. This report indicates that this money had been used to “inform Canada’s domestic regulatory approach to greenhouse gas emissions” and “provide a platform to deepen engagement with the US on climate change issues.”

However, Environment Minister Peter Kent says the importance of these budget cuts should not be overemphasized.  

“Departmental expenditures change from year to year, especially in a regulatory department like Environment Canada where a significant portion of funding is temporary in nature,” he told the House of Commons on March 2.

Andrew Leach, assistant professor of energy and environmental management at the University of Alberta, says many of the climate change programs are shifting towards a more regulatory approach, which does not require as much funding.

The regulatory approach outlined in the Clean Air Agenda establishes emission ceilings on individual sectors in the economy. If industries exceed these ceilings, they will be fined or otherwise penalized.

Smoggy results

Although Kent says Canada will meet its 2020 goal, recent reports have shown that the Clean Air Agenda is not producing promising results.

“I think everybody’s numbers say the same thing,” says Leach. “[The agenda] hasn’t done much yet. It’s not going to get us to the levels we’ve committed to in Copenhagen.”

"Clearly when it comes to air pollution and climate change, the only thing the government wants to cut is necessary funding."

An Environment Canada 2009 report projected that government measures would reduce carbon emissions in 2010 by 52 megatonnes. But the 2010 report projects this year’s decrease to be just five megatonnes.

Most of this small reduction has been a result of provincial action in British Columbia and Alberta, rather than from federal programs, says Nic Rivers, a PhD candidate specializing in climate change policy and economics at Simon Fraser University. 

“Clearly when it comes to air pollution and climate change, the only thing the government wants to cut is necessary funding,” said Duncan during Question Period in the House of Commons on March 2.  “After Environment Canada revealed that the government would achieve only a quarter of its promised greenhouse gas reductions [in the 2010 report], the same government gutted climate change funding.”

Waiting on the States

So far, much of the agenda has been halted while the government waits to align its emissions reductions program with the United States. Harmonizing regulations would ensure Canada doesn't fall behind economically as an international trading partner. However, Duncan says waiting around has proven to be a waste of time.

“When we sign our international agreements, we don’t say we sign on to live up to these obligations, but only if the States do it,” says Duncan.

Instead, she says Canada should implement stricter policies to drive the Clean Air Agenda.

“I think that we have some leeway in Canada to impose more ambitious regulations without being worried about losing international competitiveness to the US,” says Rivers.

Time to price carbon

In Copenhagen, Canada pledged to reduce its emissions by 17 per cent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.

Rivers and Leach suggest a carbon price in the form of a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system or a hybrid of the two. These policies would force all consumers and industry members to pay based on how much carbon they emit.

Rivers says the agenda has shied away from these approaches, because of the kind of political and economic climate in Canada. However, he says these alternative techniques would be much more efficient and cost-friendly in the long run.

Other governments have also implemented a carbon price successfully and have proven that these rigorous policies won't lose trading partners. Europe and British Columbia have already set in place a cap-and-trade system without being harmed economically, says River.

“To some degree we need to get back on track with some of the leading jurisdictions in the world,” says Leach. “I certainly hope that we’ll see a step beyond where we are right now, but I just don’t see the political will … to pay for the cost of solutions we would need to meet our goals."

Front page photo courtesy of Alfred Palmer

Climate change initiatives around the world

The world is becoming increasingly aware of climate change. Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — to determine what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. In December 2009, during the Copenhagen international summit it was stressed that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the modern world. Click on the countries on the map to see what climate change initiatives they are implementing now.