The framing of international competitiveness in Canada’s climate change policy: trade-off or synergy?

Abstract

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has identified competitiveness concerns as perhaps the most significant barrier to ambitious climate policies in the developed world. This article assesses the nature of these concerns, and argues that they are not necessarily the rational response to a clear and obvious impact of climate policies on international competitiveness, but are politically constructed. Competitiveness concerns reflect a ‘trade-off’ frame of this relationship, in which international competitiveness and climate policies are portrayed as conflicting. However, an analysis of Canadian climate policy reveals that governments can reframe this relationship, invoking a ‘synergy’ frame in which the two goals are viewed as complementary. Because governments can choose to adopt a different frame of competitiveness, to the extent that competitiveness concerns serve as a barrier to more ambitious climate politics, it is a barrier that can be overcome.

Policy relevance

Statements about the impact that climate policy has on international competitiveness should not be accepted as clear and obvious, but need to be carefully scrutinized. Hence, governments have greater scope for action on climate change than is sometimes claimed.

Keywords:

• Canada
• climate policy
• competitiveness
• framing

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Douglas Macdonald and to the journal’s reviewers for their valuable comments. Thanks also to Alison Dover for her research assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Although Bernstein (2002) points out that competitive pressures can work in two directions, putting some companies at a disadvantage while providing others with a competitive edge.

2. For a more guarded assessment of the future prospects for Canadian climate policy see MacNeil and Patterson (2016).