On December 11, 2020, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) released A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy: Canada’s strengthened climate plan to create jobs and support people, communities, and the planet. The plan includes 64 updated or new policies and programs to drive Canada’s achievement of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Notable items in the plan of potential relevance to CPA members include:
- Increasing the price of carbon by $15/tonne annually after 2022, reaching $170/tonne in 2030.
- Ensuring provincial carbon pricing programs remain as stringent as the federal pricing system and are consistent nationally.
- Narrowing the scope of the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) Regulations to address only liquid fossil fuels (solid and gaseous fuels are no longer being considered under the plan).
- Launching a Net-Zero Challenge to support the development and implementation of transitioning Canadian industrial facilities to net-zero emissions by 2050, including $3 billion over five years to accelerate the transformation.
- Working with the building materials sector and other stakeholders to develop a robust, low-emission building materials supply chain to ensure Canadian, locally-sourced products are available.
CPA will track these issues and engage with government and other stakeholders as the details of these programs are developed. See Healthy Environment Health Economy Backgrounder.