Canadian Business Leaders Respond to Climate Change

March 28, 2016 – This was an eventful month for Canadians and Canadian business. This month the new Liberal government announced its new budget with billions of dollars allocated to a clean growth economy. Was the government ahead of business in recognizing the need to address climate change? Based on other announcements this month I would say, probably not. Because it seems that business leadership in Canada is on board to address climate change, to create a sustainable economic future while transitioning to a low carbon economy.

A good illustration of this came at the beginning of March, when 26 corporate, environmental, First Nation, and labour leaders formed a virtual think tank called Smart Prosperity. Who was participating? Loblaws Chairman, Galen Weston, Darren Entwistle, CEO of Telus, Lorraine Mitchelmore, former president of Shell Canada, Dominic Barton, CEO of McKinsey & Co., and head of Ottawa’s new Advisory Council on Economic Growth and many more.

Smart Prosperity stated it was focused on Eco-preneurship. What is it?

A combination of entrepreneurship with a focus on environmental sustainability. Eco-preneurship combines economics and ecology with the creation of policy and practices in business focused on clean investment, research and development.

Smart Prosperity was formed to provide industry leadership with a vision for a sustainable cleaner economy focused on:

• doing more with less,
• creating high-performance, low environmental impact initiatives,
• pricing pollution and waste,
• investing in advanced infrastructure in energy, transportation, water systems, education and training, while protecting the environment,
• practicing conservation to ensure the survival of the country’s biodiversity.

Smart Prosperity’s end game is simple: Boost Canada’s competitiveness through innovation and environmental performance to become a global leader.

This calls for:

• making affordable sustainable choices to improve the quality of Canadian lives while conserving nature and reducing our human carbon and environmental footprint.
• governments creating smart economic and environmental policies that encourage private initiative and capital to produce eco-efficiency through innovation.
• all business to measure environmental performance, to focus on clean innovation and job creation that is future focused.
• an economic and political climate that supports the development of healthy, vibrant and sustainable green communities.

States Don Drummond, former Chief Economist and TD Bank, and currently on the faculty of Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies, that in the past “without solid analysis, statements have been made that attempts to secure sustainability must sacrifice economic prosperity and emission targets have been thrown out without any relation to supporting policies.”  He sees Smart Prosperity offering “the prospect of analysis that can identify policies that can achieve environmental goals while supporting growth.”

Is the rest of Canadian business on the same page as Smart Prosperity? According to the latest C-Suite Survey of Canada’s corporate executive community that appeared in today’s Globe and Mail Report on Business, 74% believe that the country has to cut reliance on fossil fuels, and invest in research and development in clean technology. The majority believe government should take the leadership role to spur the breakthroughs that will eliminate fossil-fuel use. Interestingly, however, the majority surveyed don’t believe eliminating fossil fuels is achievable by 2050. Nor do 56% think achieving this goal by mid-century is worthwhile. In fact only 14% believe the country can completely eliminate fossil fuel use by 2050.

These poll results are far removed from the thinking behind the Smart Prosperity initiative. But nevertheless Canadian executives surveyed are far more cognizant today of the need to reduce fossil fuel use than ever before, and are, for the first time, contemplating a low-carbon business paradigm as their inevitable future.

When asked why they felt the goal of eliminating fossil fuels was impossible by 2050, they cited the lack of or high cost of energy alternatives and not irreparable harm to the economy. In fact only 6% stated that as the primary issue for not eliminating fossil fuels by mid-century.

Related articles across the web

• Canada makes low-carbon commitments
• What Does Canada’s Budget Say About The Environment?