<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State" downloadurl="http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <o:p> </o:p> <img width=322 height=41 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C76A1D.D5F99D10"><o:p></o:p> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: left bottom; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(res://ietag.dll/#34/#1001); BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-x" tabIndex="0" w:st="on">Ontario</st1:State></st1:place>’s Conservation Movement<o:p></o:p> To subscribe or unsubscribe to this listserve, go to <a href="http://www.weconserve.ca/" title="http://www.weconserve.ca/">www.weconserve.ca</a><o:p></o:p> This post is online at <a href="http://weconserve.ca/articles/?p=31">http://weconserve.ca/articles/?p=31</a> <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <h2>Dion’s Half Plan on Climate<o:p></o:p></h2> I read over Stéphane Dion’s climate change plan over the weekend. It’s a great half plan.<o:p></o:p> The plan will place a cap on emissions by sector, and will impose a carbon tax on companies that exceed the cap. The initial charge will be $20 per tonne for emissions in excess of the initial target of 6% below 1990 levels. The penalties will increase over time and the targets lowered to 20% below 1990 in 2020, 35% below 1990 in 2035, and 60 to 80% below 1990 in 2050.<o:p></o:p> Each major company will have a carbon budget, and will pay into an arms-length Green Investment Account when it exceeds its budget. Companies have two years to access their GIA contributions to finance carbon-reducing projects, after which the funds can be used to finance other projects.<o:p></o:p> Details on the plan are at the Liberal Party website <a href="http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?id=12570">http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?id=12570</a>. <o:p></o:p> Why is this only half a plan? It is focused entirely on major emitters in three sectors: electricity generation, upstream oil and gas, and energy intensive industries. This is a supply-side strategy, not a demand-side strategy. It targets corporations, not consumers. To be effective, a climate change strategy has to work both sides. To overlook the power of conservation as a driver of economic change is a major omission.<o:p></o:p> Let’s take transporation as an example. Transportation (about <a href="http://www.ec.gc.ca/soer-ree/English/Indicators/Issues/Climate/Tech_Sup/ccsup03_e.cfm" target="_blank">30% of Canada’s CO2 emissions</a>) is not specifically targeted in the Dion plan, nor is urban sprawl, a major contributing factor to personal transportation habits. The automotive sector is energy-intensive and their production facilities would likely be covered under the Liberal plan, but would the fuel efficiency of the cars they produce be covered? The North American auto industry is already facing pressure from consumers to produce more energy-efficient cars. A stronger gas guzzler tax and incentive program to promote fuel-efficiency would have a major impact on the design of cars and reward people who choose to conserve.<o:p></o:p> I can point to a full range of consumer-oriented tax shifting programs that are revenue neutral and would reward individuals for being climate change leaders. They offer a consumer-based equivalent to the Green Investment Account — carbon taxes to finance incentives for vehicle efficiency, public transit, compact urban design, home energy efficiency, and renewable power. The beauty of this approach is that it will sunset once the transition to a conserver economy is complete.<o:p></o:p> If Stéphane Dion’s plan is based on the “polluter-pays principle”, then the approach I’m suggesting could be called the “pigs-pay principle”.<o:p></o:p> Climate change is as much an issue of over-consumption as it is one of over-pollution. It’s time we take a much more aggressive position on rewarding conservers. <o:p></o:p> Chris Winter <a href="http://www.weconserve.ca/">weconserve.ca</a> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Ontario</st1:State></st1:place>'s Conservation Movement<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>