Harnessing the power of markets to work for a better world requires quality incentives, information, investment and infrastructure. In the realm of climate change, 2015 was quite a year for progress in all four areas. The Council for Clean Capitalism was proud to play a supportive role in the initiatives outlined below.
Incentives
Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba all came out with ambitious carbon pricing plans, meaning 90 per cent of Canada’s population now lives in a jurisdiction that is, or will soon be, covered by a carbon price. Globally, half of all nations have already or will soon be implementing a carbon price.
Information:
Canada made a major advance on natural capital accounting, this past December becoming the first country in the world to include commercial natural wealth on the balance sheet at a sectoral level of detail. These new measures matter as they “shed additional light on the Canadian economy in terms of both economic activity and financial stability at a time when environmental assets are taking on increased importance,” according to Pat O’Hagan, International Accounts and Trade Division at Statistics Canada.
Provinces across the country are planning to follow Ontario’s leadership announced this past October to require that buildings disclose energy greenhouse gases and water use by 2017. This will help building owners manage their energy and water consumption and save money on their utility bills.
To the extent that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” in the words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, big investors will soon be cleaning up their investments. The Ontario Pension Benefits Act will require over 4,000 Ontario pension funds to disclose information about their consideration of environmental, social and governance factors in their statement of investment policies starting in 2016. This investor transparency measure fits in nicely with the $10 trillion in investments held by signatories to the Montreal Carbon Pledge, an initiative developed by Corporate Knights in partnership with the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.
Investment:
Ontario plans to follow up its initial $500 million green bond issue, which was used to finance public transit, with over $1 billion of green bond issues in 2016. At least one other Canadian province is expected to initiate a green bond program in 2016, as is the Canadian federal government, which has promised to issue green bonds to institutional and retail investors to help fund electric vehicle, smart grid, clean power and energy storage projects.
Infrastructure:
The Canadian government has agreed to make significant new investments in green infrastructure, including electricity transmission lines, which will be required to fulfil what the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has projected as a 300 per cent increase in U.S. demand for clean power from Canada to meet its Clean Power Plan requirements.
The Council for Clean Capitalism is a group of forward-thinking companies that seek public policies in support of an economic system in which prices incorporate social, economic and ecological benefits and costs, and people know the full impacts of their marketplace actions.
