Building off of the insights shared at the North American Climate Policy Forum, this report reviews opportunities and challenges for climate change policy harmonization in North America.
This report provides Canadian local governments with an introduction to stormwater user fees and to the various other tools that they can implement to take an integrated approach to better urban stormwater management through the use of green infrastructure.
Sustainable Prosperity and the Climate Bonds Initiative prepared a joint submission to the Government of Canada's "Let's Talk Climate" consultation process, and to the co-chairs of the federal-provincial-territorial working groups formed under the Vancouver Declaration on Clean Growth and Climate Change.
In this paper, we look at the opportunities to make greater use of price-based policy tools, particularly at the local level, to help address environmental problems and provide revenue that municipalities need to support their budgetary and environmental objectives.
This report grapples with the question of how to get the institutions right to implement effective clean innovation policy by drawing on lessons from the academic literature and four case studies.
This policy brief discusses critical public sector institutional design factors for policymakers to consider.
This report undertakes a review of existing knowledge within Canada and internationally to answer three questions.
Sustainable Prosperity's comments on the draft FSDS are provided from the perspective of a wide array of academics, policy experts, business, labour, and environmental leaders.
This background paper is meant to frame the current policy context as a base of discussion for all participants in the North American Climate Policy Forum.
The 4th Canadian PhD and Early Career Workshop in Environmental Economics — supported by Sustainable Prosperity — was hosted at the University of Ottawa from June 1st to June 2nd. This annual workshop brings together PhD students and early career researchers working on topics in Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics, Energy Economics, Economy of Climate Change, Energy Economics, and other related disciplines.
There are a number of reasons why more and more studies are showing that environmental regulations bring economic dividends. This short paper and the two Policy Briefs that accompany it explore what we believe are the top three.
This week Sustainable Prosperity lost one of its biggest champions as well as a friend in Alan Nymark. Alan was a lifelong champion for the idea that we can grow an economy that values environmental protection and has room for all.
It turns out we have a data void in Canada. If you’ve been following our series of blogs on #GreenTape (the first looked at environmental regulation and innovation, the second at good design of environmental regulation, you’ve seen how environmental regulation, when designed well, can bring both economic and environmental returns. You’ve also seen that retrospective analysis of environmental regulations can provide meaningful insight into where, when and how to design environmental regulation.
We have all heard the saying, “I’m drowning in red tape”. It’s a common rebuke from businesses and others being forced to comply with regulation. Green tape, the environmental equivalent of red tape, refers to the rules and regulations that limit pollution or protect ecosystems. While green tape also draws its fair share of complaints, it turns out environmental regulation can be designed in a way to produce environmental and economic benefits that can outweigh at least some of the drawbacks – if not all of them.
Thirty years ago, as concerns grew over dioxins appearing in fish downstream from pulp and paper mills, Swedish firms developed chlorine-free pulp bleaching technologies. Developing these technologies helped protect fish and ecosystems. What’s more, it opened up new markets in Germany for the Swedish firms’ more-environmentally-friendly products, and allowed the leading firms to sell their technology to other jurisdictions. A win for the environment and the economy.
This report provides the rationale for local governments to consider green infrastructure strategies and introduces six market-based tools that are used across Canada and the United States to support such strategies.
The new Canadian federal government has committed to develop a national climate change plan in co-operation with provincial and territorial governments. Under the previous federal government Canada had committed to a 17% reduction below 2005 levels by 2020 and a 30% reduction by 2030. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has promised that the previous government’s 2030 commitments will be a “floor” for federal ambition. The big question is: where will these GHG emissions reductions come from?
