Accelerating Clean Innovation: Session 4: The Path Forward

Jun 26, 2015

After a full day spent discussing Canada’s track record on innovation, our potential to accelerate clean innovation, the policy levers available to make it happen and the practical experience from industry and academia, the question facing our final panel was ultimately – do we want to do things differently and drive greener growth? With clean innovation, that is the choice facing Canadians – are we happy, as Gord Lambert summarizes it, to “play the old game incrementally better?” or are we seeking something bigger and bolder? Given the economic and environmental risks and rewards at stake, the answer certainly seems to be to go big and bold, provided we have the right research to support good decision-making.

Keynote Address Offers Insights to Energy Exporters

Jun 17, 2015

On Wednesday, June 3, Sustainable Prosperity had the honour of hosting Kristin Halvorsen, former Norwegian minister of finance and current director of CICERO, a Norwegian climate policy think-tank. Halvorsen discussed the workings of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, as well as Norway’s 25 years of experience with a carbon tax.

Accelerating Clean Innovation Conference (Session 3): Key Components – Linking Theory with Practice

Jun 16, 2015

Why has innovation in the digital electronics market far outstripped progress in the clean energy sectors?

Accelerating Clean Innovation Conference (Session 2): Public Policy Solutions

Jun 10, 2015

While Session 1 raised the issue of faltering innovation in Canada, Session 2 speakers (Dr. Richard Newell, Duke University; Dr. Richard Hawkins, University of Calgary; Dr. Nick Johnstone, OECD Structural Policy Division; and Geoff McCarney, PhD candidate at Columbia University and Sustainable Prosperity’s Research Director) shed light on why this has occurred and how it can be corrected by examining the links between public policy and clean innovation.

SP Asked Some of The Brightest Political Actors on the Globe How to Make Carbon Pricing Work – This is What They Said:

Jun 02, 2015

Accelerating Clean Innovation Conference (Session 1): The Canadian Context

May 30, 2015

“We are moving towards a global economy that increasingly will reward companies that are low-polluting, energy-efficient, eco-innovative and use natural capital more productively.” With this remark Stewart Elgie opened the conference, explaining that in order to compete internationally, Canadian companies will have to be better than their competitors at lowering their environmental footprint. And to do that requires accelerating the pace at which we develop and adopt clean innovations.

Making Sense (Cents) of Environmental Taxes in Canada

May 10, 2015

Hearts, Pocketbooks & kilowatt-hours: How Different Policy Approaches Work to Decrease Energy Use

May 05, 2015

Investing or Divesting – What Will Lead to a Greener Economy?

Mar 26, 2015

Responding to climate change will require some significant changes in where investments flow in our economy.

The Town of Gibsons is valuing nature in its decision-making: why this matters

Mar 03, 2015

Ecosystem valuation is still an academic undertaking or one that is limited to raising awareness around the value of protecting or restoring nature.

Bringing Canada Back in Line -- Part 2

Dec 12, 2014

New analysis shows that without new and ambitious policy action Canada will miss its Copenhagen targets by a considerable margin. So while Canada will have to play climate policy catch-up to the rest of the world, it appears that a number of forward-looking provinces have already signed up to lead Canada in this mission.

An Analysis of QC & Cali’s First Joint Auction

Dec 10, 2014

The numbers are in for Quebec and California’s first joint auction of GHG allowances (for convenience’ sake, I will use “allowance” and “permit” interchangeably in this post). The auction held on November 25th marked the last step in the linking of their cap-and-trade systems. Since January 2014, compliance instruments are fully fungible, meaning allowances or offsets from either jurisdiction can be used by firms in California or Quebec to cover their emissions.

A Breakout Year for Green Bonds

Dec 08, 2014

Addressing climate change is going to require a lot of investment. The International Energy Agency estimates that the transition to a global low carbon economy will require upwards of US$53-trillion in cumulative investment in energy supply and energy efficiency by 2035. The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy estimated in 2012 that an “annual investment on the order of $13 to $17 billion” was required in Canada to achieve our climate change objectives.

How do we Build Cities for People?

Dec 02, 2014

How can cities be remade so that they can be enjoyed, and not just endured?

Natural Capital Accounting – Making the Invisible Visible

Nov 13, 2014

Pricing Water Pollution: Top 10 Lessons from Ontario’s Water Quality Trading experience

Oct 22, 2014

In my previous blog post I explained how water quality trading (WQT) works(external link) and how this market-based instrument enhances the cost effectiveness of pollution control policies. When applied successfully, WQT translates into net environmental benefits to watersheds and lower costs to pollutant dischargers than the ones incurred when just using technological upgrades to meet a regulatory standard. In this second blog post I identify the top 10 lessons learned from Ontario’s small – but significant – experience with WQT.

Collaboration Can Be Uncomfortable But It's What We Need

Oct 16, 2014

Learning from past successes to create the broad-based support for deep transformational change can occur through one simple concept: collaboration. Identifying villains and heroes, winners and losers has no place in the collaborative process necessary for such change.

Welcome to the Anthropocene: biodiversity (or a lack thereof) under our influence

Oct 15, 2014

Pricing Water Pollution: Water Quality Trading in Ontario

Oct 08, 2014

Ontario has lots of water. It’s a fact that the province holds about a third of the world’s fresh water. Unfortunately, it’s also a fact that elevated nutrient levels – particularly phosphorus – in Ontario’s streams, rivers and lakes pose a huge risk to this vital resource. Excessive phosphorus loads from industrial and agricultural sources can lead to algal blooms, which can threaten aquatic habitat and make water unsafe for swimming and drinking.

Moving on Better Urban Mobility

Oct 01, 2014