Business Leaders Support Call for Unified National Policy on Carbon Pricing

April 16, 2009

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) supports today’s call by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) for a unified national approach to putting a price on emissions of the greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

The NRTEE report, Achieving 2050: A Carbon Pricing Policy for Canada, calls for a nationwide cap-and-trade system that would cover almost all sources of greenhouse gases, from large factories and power generation to the fuels used in cars and homes.

“Price signals are an important tool for spurring business investment in new technologies and for changing consumer behaviour, but they must be applied consistently across the economy if they are to be effective,” said CCCE Executive Vice President David Stewart-Patterson.

In 2007, the CCCE issued a policy declaration, Clean Growth: Building a Canadian Environmental Superpower, based on five principles: achieving a coherent national plan; recognizing the critical role of developing and deploying new technologies; establishing policies that will drive investment and innovation; making wise use of price signals; and contributing to a global solution.

“The National Round Table’s recommendations reflect these principles,” Mr. Stewart-Patterson said. “The report also demonstrates that achieving any ambitious target will require significant contributions from businesses and consumers alike.”

Federal and provincial governments are pursuing a variety of different policies and targets for addressing climate change.  The NRTEE report says that continuing this fragmented approach would cost Canadians 25 percent more than a unified policy on carbon pricing.

Agreement among governments within Canada also is essential to ensure coordination with the climate change policies being pursued by the United States and other major trading partners and to avoid putting Canadians at a competitive disadvantage within the global economy.

“We will not be able to engage effectively with our partners abroad if we cannot get our act together at home,” Mr. Stewart-Patterson said.  “Achieving agreement on detailed design issues and on the governance structure for a national cap-and-trade system will not be easy, but the National Round Table should be congratulated for having the courage to put the key issues on the table and for launching a constructive national discussion.”

The CCCE is Canada’s most influential business association, composed of 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs from all major sectors and regions of the country. CCCE members lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training.

In addition to Chief Executive and President Thomas d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada and Asia.