As the world prepares for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, CAPP is advocating a direction to guide the development of Canada's climate change policy.
Climate Change Policy Direction
CAPP supports a made-in-Canada climate change policy that is developed with a continental and global perspective. Canada's unique geographic and economic circumstances, along with significant regional differences, make this particularly challenging. The world is preparing for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, with the objective of agreement on a new international climate change regime to replace the Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012. President Obama and the U.S. Congress are engaged in an effort to build a more robust American approach to climate change policy. The outcome of the Copenhagen meetings will likely largely depend on progress on U.S. domestic policy and on whether countries such as China, India and Brazil agree to participate in a new agreement.
CAPP is advocating the following principles to guide the development of Canadian policy:
- It must take a balanced “3E” approach – Energy, Environment and Economy
- It must provide policy predictability and stability to support longer term investment decisions;
- It must promote the technology development necessary for significant future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions;
- It must align with the policies of our major competitors, or adjust for differences so as not to undermine competitiveness, particularly for energy intensive, trade-exposed sectors;
- And it must allow for regional differences and harmonize across jurisdictions.
Broad carbon pricing designed in accordance with these principles should be a central element of policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions efficiently. There are many policy designs that can achieve these objectives and we should be much more focused on the substance of the policy rather than the label, whether the latter is “Cap & Trade”, “Carbon Tax” or some other variation.
What really matters at the end of the day is the price of carbon and how the policy impacts particular jurisdictions and sectors of the economy. The Canadian oil and gas sector is actively engaged in climate change policy development, building on what has already been done in Canada and ensuring that our interests are effectively represented in the evolving Canadian, continental and international dialogue. At the same time, the industry continues to focus on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations.