Title: The Cost of a Cleaner Future
Author: Len Coad, Robyn Gibbard, Alicia Macdonald, and Matthew Stewart
Publisher: Conference Board of Canada
Date: September 6, 2017
Summary:
This analysis studies three distinct policy measures—the impact of a carbon price and a shift in the electricity generation mix, the impact of substantially decarbonizing our electricity generation sector, and the impact of investments that will allow Canada to reduce its emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.
Carbon pricing and a shift in our electricity generation mix will have a small negative impact on the economy, but there are distributional impacts that will need to be considered by policy-makers.
Pricing carbon and decarbonizing our electricity system will need to be accompanied by trillions of dollars in spending on clean energy infrastructure and significant changes to the way we consume energy.
Changing public behavior will play a crucial role in the transformation required to reduce emissions. This requires policy-makers to more clearly communicate their plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
