This text is taken from Courrier de l’économie. Click here to subscribe.
The OECD published its annual analysis of the Canadian economy last week. The report included a special chapter taking stock of Canada’s progress on its road to carbon neutrality. A graphic stood out. It showed the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the Canadian economy for every dollar of wealth produced. Canada appeared there as the worst country in the club of developed countries alongside Australia, far behind economies known to be lax in environmental matters, such as its American neighbor or Poland.
Passing through Ottawa to present his organization’s report, the OECD’s acting chief economist, Alvaro Pereira, did his best to find extenuating circumstances in Canada.
Its “harsh winters” and the “great distances” that must be traveled “partly explain the extent of its energy needs”, it has been recognized. Moreover, “it is not easy to design effective climate policies in a federal country where the costs and opportunities inherent in a large-scale green energy transition are likely to be unevenly distributed” between, for example, provinces of the West, which produces heavy oil and natural gas, and Quebec, which is rich in hydroelectricity. In fact, per capita GHG emissions are two times lower in Quebec, or even in Ontario, than the Canadian average, and six times lower than in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
But OK. The top Swedish and Danish class also know what winter is. And the United States is also a big country and not exactly easy to govern either. In addition, Canada has the great advantage of having access to immense hydroelectric resources, which help it to obtain two-thirds of its electricity from renewable energies, unlike the other weak performers of Australia (27%). , South Korea (7%), Poland (18%) or, once again, the United States (21%).
But all is not black, underlines the OECD. Canada has adopted a new climate plan aimed at accelerating its transition to carbon neutrality by 2050. It includes carbon pricing which, at CA$170 per tonne in 2030, should help it achieve its targets. Much of the work to reduce emissions will have to come from oil and gas extraction activities, which account for a quarter of its emissions. The transportation sector will also have to do much better, which accounts for almost as much of Canada’s liabilities. Even more, in proportion to the size of the economy, than in the United States. But additional efforts will also have to be made in terms of the energy efficiency of buildings.
In fact, summarizes the OECD, Canada will still have to “achieve considerable energy savings and take far-reaching measures” if it is to hope to achieve its climate objectives.