I am very strongly opposed…

I am very strongly opposed to the Ontario government's proposal to cancel Cap and Trade in the province. The Cap and Trade policy provides a robust method of taxing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, thereby fiscally incentivising those individuals or organisations to reduce their carbon footprint, whilst also providing funding for green infrastructure and other projects to minimise the contribution made by Ontario to anthropogenic climate change.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published on the 8th October 2018, starkly outlines the severity of the challenges we face around the globe to limit the extent of global warming. In this report the IPCC state that "limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society." The Ontario government's proposal to remove Cap and Trade is not the sort of change envisaged in this IPCC document, rather it represents a substantial retrograde step by this government in terms of the province's future contributions to global warming.

The actions we take now to mitigate carbon emissions will be decisive in the ability of humans to limit the severity of climate change impacts we will see in the decades to come. For those that think we cannot afford to fund a cap and trade policy now, the costs of dealing with the augmented impacts of climate change in the future as a result of not implementing measures like this now will be substantially greater.

I urge the Ontario government to reverse this proposal, to reinstate Cap and Trade, and to urgently look for additional ways to promote reduced energy usage, increased energy efficiency and other related sustainable practices to reduce and minimise the environmental impact of the province going forward.