Should Canada join a climate club?

ABSTRACT

Climate change is a global problem and beyond the ability of any single country to meaningfully address. To do so requires collective action, and efforts to date to mobilize such actions have failed (e.g., the 1997 Kyoto Protocol) or been less successful than needed (e.g., the 2015 Paris Agreement). The growing concentration of carbon emissions in the atmosphere increases the urgency of successful actions. The concept of a climate club has been advanced as a mechanism to provide both the incentive and the discipline to collectively address climate change. Canada has recently been invited to participate in a climate club. Is this initiative worthwhile for Canada to participate in?

RÉSUMÉ

Le changement climatique est un problème mondial qui dépasse la capacité d'un seul pays à y faire face de manière significative. Y parvenir nécessite une action collective, et les efforts déployés à ce jour pour mobiliser de telles actions ont échoué (par exemple, le protocole de Kyoto en 1997) ou ont été moins fructueux que nécessaire (par exemple, l'accord de Paris de 2015). La concentration croissante des émissions de carbone dans l'atmosphère accroît l'urgence d'actions fructueuses. Le concept d'un club climatique a été proposé en tant que mécanisme assurant à la fois l'incitation et la discipline pour s'attaquer collectivement au changement climatique. Le Canada a récemment été invité à participer à un club climatique. Cette initiative vaut-elle la peine que le Canada y participe ?

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon border adjustment mechanisms
• carbon clubs
• carbon pricing
• climate change
• climate clubs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A climate club composed of Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States would cover 44% of global international trade and about 28% of global GHG emissions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Precht

Paul Precht is an independent energy economist in Edmonton. He has consulted across Canada and internationally for clients including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat. He is an executive fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy.