This is a guest blog post written by Whitehorse-based economist, Luigi Zanasi. Please feel free to comment. Also, please note that this was written before Marc’s blog post of Jan. 14 re: BC’s carbon tax. – Towards a fair cap & trade system for GHG emissions In the last two
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The Progressive Economics Forum: What’s next for BC’s carbon tax?
An oped of mine was published by the Vancouver Sun today: What’s next for BC’s carbon tax? Marc Lee Climate change forced its way onto the political agenda in 2012, as Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeast United Stages just days before the election. And while action remains frustratingly slow,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Marc’s Letter from 2040
The following comes from a short talk on a vision for a zero-carbon BC that I gave at a couple events this Fall. Many have asked for the text so I’ve posted it here, and we may try and turn it into a video. That said, I have been reluctant
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: We’ll All Be Singing This Tune Before Long
It goes like this: “If we had had more ambition [on emissions cuts from rich countries], we would not have to ask for so much [money] for adaptation. If there had been more money for adaptation [to climate change], we would not be looking for money for loss and damage.
Continue readingImpolitical: Joyce Murray’s Vancouver launch
That’s video of Joyce Murray’s Vancouver launch that happened Saturday afternoon. I recommend watching the full video as by the end of it you’ll get a good sense of what she’s about and the bold policies of her platform thus far. It is Sunday after all…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What’s Next for BC’s Carbon Tax?
The Minister leading up BC’s Carbon Tax Review, Kevin Falcon, may be gone – his departure came just as the deadline for submissions was closing – but the carbon tax lives on. For now. Back in 2008 when the carbon tax was announced, it was scheduled to rise from an
Continue reading350 or bust: Earth May Reach Tipping Point
* More links: Scientists Uncover Evidence Of Impending Tipping Point For Earth Carbon Targets Need Strong New Measures, Panel Argues
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Green Industrial Revolution
Today the CCPA released a new big picture report by myself and student researcher Amanda Card calling for a Green Industrial Revolution. The report builds on work done for the BC-focused Climate Justice Project, bringing to bear a national analysis of green and not-so-green jobs. We take a close look
Continue reading350 or bust: In The Forecast: More Extreme – and Expensive – Weather Events
Montreal Quebec was hit by a short but fierce rainstorm on Tuesday, doing millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and businesses. The Montreal Gazette reported: Montreal firefighters answered more than 900 calls during Tuesday afternoon’s cloudburst that dumped as much as 70 mms. of rain on this city
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Climate change will shape BC in 2035, one way or another
I have an oped in today’s Vancouver Sun as part of its BC in 2035 series. Climate change will shape BC in 2035, one way or another We live on a different planet from the one our parents grew up on, says environmentalist Bill McKibben. Climate change from our rampant
Continue reading350 or bust: Cap & Trade Benefits Big Polluters And Even Bigger Banks
In order to address the challenge of climate change, pricing carbon pollution is necessary. Capping carbon pollution and creating a carbon market has been proposed as a method of doing this. However, it turns out that “Cap & Trade”, as it’s called, will benefit the Wall Street whizzes who brought
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Who Occupies the Sky?
CCPA released a new report today by myself and Amanda Card that makes the links between inequality and carbon footprints. We look at the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions for Canada, building on an analysis of BC emissions. While it was not planned this way, the analysis is timely given the Occupy movement’s focus on […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Australia Leads In Climate Fight, Passes Carbon Tax
Australia’s Senate passed a comprehensive carbon pricing scheme yesterday, to the applause of members of the public who were present. Australia is one of the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita because of its heavy reliance on…
Continue reading350 or bust: Climate News: Carbon Pricing in Australia And Oil Orgies In Britain
Yesterday Australia took a huge step toward a clean energy economy and tackling climate change. The Australian House of Representatives passed the Government’s package of 19 bills setting up a carbon pricing scheme from July 1, 2012 by a vote of 74 t…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fighting energy poverty and the transition to zero-emission housing
Today CCPA released a new Climate Justice Project report, Fighting Energy Poverty in the Transition to Zero-Emission Housing: A Framework for BC, by yours truly, Eugene Kung (a lawyer with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre and a steering committee member of the CJP) and Jason Owen (who worked on this project as a student at UBC, now with the […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Notes on the social cost of carbon
A recent paper by Ackerman and Stanton did some re-estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon, finding this measure of the externality (or costs imposed on third parties) from burning fossil fuels could be as high as $893 per tonne of CO2, rising to $1,500 per tonne by 2050. These are extreme estimates, but they […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Decarbonizing homes and the price of gas
Our climate justice framework for BC is to eliminate fossil fuels by 2040. In the household sector, this poses a significant challenge, not so much in terms of technology and knowledge, but because natural gas is much cheaper than electricity per unit of energy. Even though BC has among the lowest prices in North America, […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Deconstructing BC’s carbon neutral government
Besides the carbon tax, one of the most important BC government climate action initiatives has been the adoption of Carbon Neutral Government. That is, count emissions from public buildings and travel, reduce them as much as possible and pay for carbon offsets to negate the rest. As of the 2010 calendar year, the BC government […]
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