Action on climate change is critical for Alberta's economic future and could bring new green jobs to the province.
That was the message heard by some 300 delegates at this week's 2015 Alberta Climate Summit at the Chateau Lacombe in Edmonton. Organized by the Pembina Institute, it featured a host of experts speaking on how to get Alberta to a low-carbon future.
The conference featured a significant presence from the provincial government, including four out of the five members of the Climate Change Advisory Panel, many government employees and Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips.
Phillips said there's a great appetite for action on climate change in Alberta, the effects of which we can see in shrinking glaciers, fires, floods and droughts.
"The days of denial are over."
Action on climate change is integral to Alberta's economic future, Phillips said. Global demand for cleaner energy is growing, and a low-carbon Alberta can fill that demand.
"It's not just about the oilsands, and it's not just about coal-fired electricity generation. It's about our pocketbooks and our livelihoods."
Investors take note
Climate change is the number one issue for the insurance industry right now, said panellist Heather Mack of the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Insurance is about risk, and climate change makes the world more risky: Canadian insurers paid out about $3.2 billion in 2013 due to catastrophic weather events compared to just $400 million a year from 1983 to 2008.
"If we continue on the route we're on, we are going to see more and more extreme events," she said in an interview. That will mean more payouts and higher premiums for all.
Investors are already paying attention to climate change because it represents a financial and social risk, said panellist Jamie Bonham of NEI Investments. The Economist Intelligence Unit recently estimated that six degrees of warming would cost investors some $13.8 trillion by the end of the century, he noted.
"The risks are quite enormous to investors."
Bonham's group recently organized a letter to Premier Rachel Notley signed by 120 investors representing about $4.6 trillion in assets that called a "robust and credible climate policy in Alberta" critical to the future success of Alberta companies.
"There is a growing appetite among investors for things such as (renewables), green bonds, and climate bonds," he says, and a broad consensus on putting a price on carbon – one that would drive innovation and diversification.
B.C. has had a carbon tax on all combustion sources since 2008 that works out to about $0.07 per litre of gasoline, said panellist Nicholas Rivers, the Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy. His research suggests that the tax has caused the province to cut its emissions by about 10 per cent with no impact on the province's GDP.
"One of the key reason is that it is a tax shift," Rivers said. Unlike Alberta's carbon levy on large emitters (which takes taxes on pollution and puts them in a fund for green technologies), the B.C. tax shunts all the money it collects back to residents and companies in the form of tax cuts.
"It provides every emitter in B.C. with the same incentive to reduce their emissions," he said, and helps capture all the low-cost emission reductions out there.
B.C.'s carbon tax has won international praise and earned the province a reputation as a climate leader, Rivers said. But the tax will have to rise considerably to about $100 a tonne to drive deep reductions.
Opportunities
Adapting to climate change can create jobs, Mack said.
"Infrastructure is great stimulus spending," she said, and Calgary needs major upgrades for flood protection. Most cities also have 1970s-era pipes that will need improvements to handle today's climate.
Energy efficiency could also stimulate job growth. Panellist Philippe Dunsky said his research suggests that Alberta could create about 15,000 new jobs if it adopted the same energy efficiency policies and incentives as Nova Scotia, for example. The jobs come in the form of more work for people installing insulation other energy upgrades and more spending by people who now have to spend less on energy.
St. Albert's Tanya Doran said the strong showing at this forum shows the great interest in climate change now sweeping the province.
"I heard somebody say this morning that 10 years ago or even five years ago we'd have 15 people in this room, so the fact that we are over-full and spilling out (into the hall) really talks to the fact that the winds are changing in this province."
