Delay fatal as world heats up

The region differs but we're on the same planet... except for the NIMBY's


Toronto Star
Sep. 16, 2006

As a city, a province and a nation, we must address global warming. Or face the consequences.

Reasons for inaction on global warming and climate change include indifference, fear, other competing interests, giving up without trying and lack of knowledge. What is clear, from all the evidence, is that the issues involved are no longer "uncertain."

Surveys show that 90 per cent of Canadians believe that climate change is "very serious" or "somewhat serious" and 72 per cent of Canadians believe global warming will have become the greatest crisis facing mankind by the year 2020.

When we don't mitigate environmental ills, then our health, our society and our economy suffer. Smog is one of the results of burning fossil fuels, and a major contributor to global warming. In 2005, the Ontario Medical Association quantified some of the economic impacts of smog, namely health-care costs, lost productivity, pain and suffering, and loss of life. These will amount to $12.9 billion in Ontario in 2026, with an estimated 38.5 million minor illnesses suffered due to smog, about 88,000 emergency visits and more than 10,000 premature deaths.

There are cascading effects. For example, with almost $719 million in health-care costs due to smog in 2026, would the province forego other necessities within its purview? These economic impacts are only the tip of the iceberg of the costs of global warming. There are billions in insurance payouts, uninsured losses, increased business risk and other costs resulting from severe weather events, milder winters, drought and intense precipitation contributing to higher incidence of disease and human, agricultural, forestry, real estate and industry losses; rising sea levels; lower Great Lake levels, and greater pollution from algae and floods.

Climate change also costs taxpayers and our economy due to missed opportunities, for acting on climate change means we not only mitigate our losses but we can add value as well.

For instance, while Canadian buildings are responsible for 38 per cent of Canada's total secondary energy use and 30 per cent of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions, greening buildings does more than diminish energy use and curb emissions. Green buildings are good for business by mitigating operating costs and enhancing productivity and asset value — according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' Green Value study. Owners and occupants of non-green buildings forego these opportunities.

Addressing climate change and its risk/return impacts are increasingly urgent issues for money managers. Mercer Investment Consulting stated in a 2005 study that pension fund trustees have a "fiduciary responsibility to address climate change in managing risk and maximizing return across plan investments."

Mercer continued: "As climate change has broad potential to impact company performance (and even economies as a whole), it can clearly be defined as a financial concern. Ergo, fiduciaries' active management of climate change risks would be in the interests of all beneficiaries. Such active management, rather than hurting scheme performance, could potentially safeguard the underlying value of its assets and possibly even add value." The biggest managers of taxpayers' money are governments.

The city is forming a made-in-Toronto green development standard for city-owned and affiliated buildings that will be voluntary in the first year for the private sector. Dave Martin, energy co-ordinator for Greenpeace Canada, notes that currently there is no cogent climate change program in Ontario.

The province backed off the phasing out of coal-fired generating stations, and the $40 billion targeted to be spent on nuclear will not be able to be spent on renewables. Keeping coal and nuclear plants going versus shutting them down and shifting supply to a decentralized renewable energy system is a major issue in climate change. Canada's second-biggest point source of carbon dioxide emissions is the Nanticoke coal-fired power plant.
Europe, by contrast, is encouraging development of large amounts of renewable energy (wind, solar and co-generation), and is phasing out nuclear and coal plants to a great extent.

Germany, Scandinavia and Spain are world leaders in wind production. Germany, Sweden and Spain have stated they will never build nuclear plants. Italy and Austria shut theirs down. According to Martin, our electricity system could incorporate more than 5,000 megawatts of wind energy, 20 per cent of total capacity. We now have only 100 megawatts. Quebec is building 4,000 megawatts over the next decade. Global wind generation capacity in 2004 was 48,000 megawatts, with 80 per cent of that in Europe.

Inaction on global warming and climate change will affect our entire planet. Yet we are falling behind as a nation. We have the technologies, we have an environmental and societal urgency and an economic rationale. We just don't have the action. Having turned away from the Kyoto accord, Canada's minority Conservative government soon will release its "Green Plan II."

As Rolf Tolle, director of franchise performance for insurer Lloyd's, says: "Climate change is today's problem, not tomorrow's. If we don't take action now to understand the changing nature of our planet and its impact, we will face extinction."