Canada & Net Zero: Differences are strengths, Orderly matters

It’s been an incredibly rewarding and challenging experience over the last few months working with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Net Zero Council, who brought together Canadian business leaders to work on how business can help achieve Canada’s #NetZero goals.?

The chairs of the Net Zero Council and the chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce published an opinion today in the Globe and Mail sharing those perspectives. PwC is a co-chair to be totally transparent here.

Below is my take on what they said and why it was important to say - in my own words (the actual statements from the G&M are in quotes where I’ve included them).

“Going forward, the how matters so much more than the why. Waiting for a singular consensus among industries, regions, and researchers is our largest risk to Canada’s net zero goal and to our economic opportunities related to energy transitions.”?

The biggest risk to Canada achieving its goals is being really Canadian, and doing only those things that everyone agrees on.?

This actually creates the second biggest risk. A failure to understand that a disorderly transition, one that creates economic turmoil, deepens inequality (in Canada and globally) and creates energy shocks, could devastate Canada and the world.

There are marked differences across the country in what options are available to transition energy to a lower emissions and more sustainable future. Canada needs many energy transition pathways being pursued in order to meet our targets and achieve a more sustainable future. For ALL of Canada, not just some of Canada. There is no one size fits all for Canada.?

“Canada’s climate and economic plans must be tightly coupled so that environmental stewardship and standard of living are not seen as an “either/or” dichotomy”

We are not a self contained economy and we do depend on providing quality of living through exporting some of Canada’s assets and resources. So our economic plan and climate plan need to be one plan. We don’t get to pick one over the other.?

“Canada’s climate plan must consider net zero in a global context” & “Canada should secure an orderly transition to net zero”

An orderly and just transition must take all of this into account for all of Canada, and globally. As we transition energy within Canada, that needs to go lock step with how we transition jobs, communities, and economies and how we plan for the increased amount of cleaner energy that an electrified and digitally connected world needs. Globally - there are substantial risks to a world that lacks energy security and geopolitical stability.?

Speaking only for myself - a world and a transition plan where we undo decades of progress on education, women's rights and poverty is not just or orderly. A plan that means girls in developing countries can’t go to school, or even worse, because of energy shocks or economic shocks,? is not a just and orderly transition…. and is a plan I cannot support.

“Private sector investment will not occur without pragmatic, predictable policies”

Canada needs to spend approximately $2 trillion dollars by 2050 to transition and meet our Net Zero targets, that’s assuming we’re investing at the right rate now. The number gets bigger the longer we wait, and the transition gets harder.?The expansion of infrastructure that needs to be in place to support this is not happening fast enough, nor is the scaling of the technologies and alternatives we need.

The sheer scale of the investment required means both the private sector and the public sector have crucial roles to play - government can unlock investment and spending in the private sector if they provide policy direction and create confidence that direction will be sustained. In absence of sign posts/directional guidance - only that spending which doesn’t force the private sector to have to bet on the policy direction will happen. This will result in incremental investment at best.

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.

H.L. Mencken

Despite how complex and incredibly interconnected all of this is, this experience has made me more hopeful about the future. The fact the diverse participants in the business community represented at the Net Zero Council can come together on the how and the why causes me to be optimistic. We can focus on how and why, and acknowledge that there isn't a simple or a single answer to all of this. We can treat differences as a strength to build forward on that will bring Canada resilience; respecting the diversity of our perspectives, our country, our communities and our economy. Canada can come together to achieve progress on Net Zero.

It is not our difference that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

Audre Lorde