Why Canada is still at the back of the pack on climate

Canada has again finished near the bottom of the Climate
Change Performance Index (CCPI), an annual evaluation of how the world's most
polluting countries are doing on climate change. The CCPI 2011, released today,
places Canada fourth-last out of the world's 57 top greenhouse gas emitters.
The top three spots are left empty — to symbolize the fact that no country is
doing enough — so Canada ranks 57^th out of 60.

Each country's CCPI score is a composite of emissions trend
over time (50%), current emissions level (30%), and national government
policies (20%):

• The emissions trend component measures progress
  in reducing per capita emissions since 1990 (15%), as well as the amount by
  which emissions have changed in key sectors like electricity and
  transportation, including a special element measuring progress on renewable
  energy (35%).
• The current emissions level component includes
  three elements that measure current emissions in relation to the economy and
  population: emissions per unit of energy (15%), energy use per unit of GDP
  (7.5%) and energy use per capita (7.5%).
• The government policies component is based on an
  expert evaluation of domestic national climate policies sector by sector (10%)
  and a country's stance on climate change internationally (10%).

For details of how these elements add up for Canada, see
this summary.

The Pembina Institute again contributed this year to the
evaluation of federal government policy that makes up 20 per cent of Canada's
CCPI score. We released our evaluation today at the same time as the
international CCPI report.

In
line with the CCPI template, our evaluation rated policies on a scale of one
(very good) to five (very poor). We awarded a rating of "very poor" in cases
where a key policy has not yet been implemented at all; "poor" for policies
that are poorly conceived and/or expected to produce only very limited emission
reductions; "neutral" for policies that are appropriate but require scaling up
or accelerating; and "good" for policies that appear to make a reasonable
contribution to significant national emission reductions. To rate a policy
"very good," it would have to be consistent with putting Canada promptly on a
path to deep emission cuts (no policies received this rating).

Why does Canada continue to fare so poorly in the CCPI? On
the emissions trend and emissions level components, putting it simply, Canada has
very high emissions in relation to the size of its population and economy. To
seriously tackle climate change, Canada would need to initiate a transformation
of the way it produces and uses energy, but it has not yet done so.

On the national climate policies component, Canada scores poorly
because, firstly, many current federal domestic policies are likely to be
ineffective. And in some key areas, they are completely absent. For example,
the federal government recently finalized its first greenhouse gas emission
regulations, which apply to cars and light trucks. But it's not clear that the regulations
are stringent enough to make a difference relative to what would have happened
without them. Another critical example is Canada's continued lack of an
emissions tax or cap-and-trade system that would put a price on emissions
broadly in the economy.

Our evaluation rates Canada poorly on its international
climate change stance because of the federal government's disappointing track
record of actions and statements that undermine the level of ambition of international
climate negotiations. For example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper opposed making
climate change a priority issue for this year's G8 and G20 summits hosted by
Canada. An assessment of international climate financing is a new addition to
this year's CCPI evaluation, and there Canada's performance has also been
disappointing: the government made a pledge
of $400 million in June, which could have represented Canada's fair share
for 2010. Unfortunately, Canada's commitment turned out to be mostly in the
form of loans, includes little support for adaptation
to climate impacts, and appears to have diverted money that would
otherwise have been used to combat poverty.

Canada ranks slightly better on this year's CCPI (57^th)
than it did last year (59^th). Unfortunately, this has little
significance: last year Canada was slightly ahead of Australia and Kazakhstan,
while this year those countries have slipped slightly behind Canada. The
differences are small, and Canada is still last among the world's top ten
greenhouse gas emitters:

In contrast, it's interesting to note that another cold country with large
oil and gas exports — Norway — came sixth in this year's CCPI (or third considering
that the top three spots are empty). It's a stark reminder of how far Canada
has to go.