The path to a green economy is far from linear. As better information and new technology become available all the time, some price signals rise and others fall – influencing policy and investment decisions, as well as consumer behaviour. The economic case for the transition to a green economy is becoming more and more compelling with the release of new figures on the rising cost of inaction on climate change, and falling prices for renewable power generation.

Today marks the release of a report looking at the economic benefits that accompany smart community energy planning. This report should serve as a useful Canadian resource at a time when interrelated concerns about municipal infrastructure and sustainable energy, and awareness of the importance of cities in addressing climate change are on the rise. It is part of the Getting to Implementation (GTI) initiative spearheaded by Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow (QUEST), with Sustainable Prosperity (SP) and the Community Energy Association (CEA) as partners.

Sara recently joined Smart Prosperity Institute as the Senior Research Associate for Sustainable Communities. Her work is focused on green economy policies that will help municipalities address environmental concerns while creating new sources of revenue.

Cities are at the core of many of the measures to fight climate change. They are expanding at an unprecedented rate as 1.4 million people move to urban areas each week, and it is projected that 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030 (UN, 2014). With this expansion comes corresponding demands for energy, goods and services. How we build these cities will therefore determine the intensity of our carbon footprint; including the types of houses we live in, how we travel from place to place, and how we use and share new and existing spaces.

I am optimistic that this year we will see major progress on climate action in Canada. Here’s why: first, consider our Provinces – late last year a number of them made announcements that could yield transformative change on the climate front. The Alberta Premier’s commitment to phase out coal and ramp up renewable energy, along with their introduction of an economy-wide carbon tax was most notable.

When something works well, a logical question to ask is, “should we do it again?” In the case of the Province of Ontario and green bonds, the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

By: Courtney Kehoe

Discussion around climate change – the science, the impacts, means of mitigation, adaptation approaches, and more – increased in volume and intensity in the weeks, days and even hours leading up to the COP21 historic agreement. But with these discussions having reached a crescendo this past December in Paris, the world now wonders: what happens next?

2007-2008 was an exciting time to be working on climate policy in British Columbia. It was the year that the premier decided to take climate action seriously and began by rolling out a series of ambitious plans, targets, and legislation. By mid-2008 British Columbia was the first jurisdiction in North America to launch a revenue-neutral carbon tax, and that was only one of several changes to come.

Image taken from the Draft Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy.