Global Energy Transitions: Coming to Terms with Inter-generational Burdens

Coming to Terms with Inter-generational Burdens The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address the challenge of climate change is an issue of intergenerational burdens that requires a cogent national strategy for managing a future liability. We propose a fresh approach to move away from the constraints imposed under the UNFCCC1 process requiring an enforceable multi- lateral agreement amongst all nations- a treaty with targets and timelines. The two decade UNFCCC process has not delivered meaningful results and in essence become a curse- the T3 curse. We propose a strategy for Canada to lead by example. The goal is to provide long term policy stability and a coherent framework for action within a national context. Such an approach can be readily adopted by other jurisdictions. The essential components of the plan include: i) A ‘cap and invest ’ strategy with a long view: large investments for accelerated deployment of low carbon technologies on a scale that enhances the national scientific, technological and industrial capacity ii) A small levy on economy-wide consumption: one percent of current consumption. This levy would generate a large pool of capital for investments on an on-going basis to de-carbonize th