Speaker: Dave Sawyer
Date: November 21st, 2017
Dave Sawyer is a leading environmental economist who has worked extensively with governments, industry and the environmental community on the economics of Canadian climate policy and energy futures. He was Vice-President for Climate, Energy and Partnerships at IISD and currently co-leads Decarbonization Pathways Canada whose work figured prominently in the Government of Canada’s Mid-Century Long-Term GHG Development Strategy. Dave’s work can be found buried deep in regulatory proposals and contained in climate policy documents of national interest.
Will the current federal climate plan be any different from the long history of failed attempts to design and implement policy to curb Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions? After all, we have seen multiple federal plans that have done nothing to curb Canada’s steadily rising emissions? Don’t Canada’s oil sands and pipeline aspirations explain everything one needs to know about Canada’s foot dragging on climate change? Dave Sawyer’s talk explored why, perhaps, the Pan-Canadian Framework really does represent a quantum shift in Canada’s climate change policy aspirations. Building on his deep regulatory experience with the provinces and the federal government, Dave explored major indicators of possible success, but also risk, from the policy architecture to the emerging governance and implementation framework.