Opinion | Can Justin Trudeau Spread Canada’s Carbon Price and Help Save the World?

The Star’s Heather Scoffield travels with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the G20 Summit in Rome and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, covering Canada’s role in the changing world order and the global fight against change climate.

GLASGOW – Justin Trudeau has decided to make his mark on the world by trying to bring Canada’s controversial carbon tax globally.

It is an intriguing idea.

If everyone puts a price on carbon, no one will try to undermine their neighbor by attracting investment by virtue of not having such a tax. And emissions will drop dramatically as a result.

But we know from history that for great initiatives like this to be successful, we would need time and diplomatic heroism. The verdict is on both.

Trudeau has made some solid initial steps. First, in his speech to the entire COP26 plenary on Monday, he pointed out the need for a global carbon price, warning other countries that there was a great idea in the works.

He will tell anyone who hears that Canada is the only producer of oil and gas who has figured out how to impose a significant and transparent price on carbon that rises sharply and redistributes income to ordinary people.

It followed Tuesday with a “carbon pricing event” on the sidelines of the summit, in which a panel was presented that brought together some of the big players in world economic policy: the director of the International Monetary Fund, the director of the World Trade Organization, the President of the European Union, and Mark Carney. In addition to being a former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Carney is the UN’s special envoy for climate action who is also forging a multi-trillion dollar effort to get mutual funds to sign net zero emissions on their investments.

With political celebrities by his side, Trudeau set a clear and ambitious goal. He wants 60 percent of global emissions to be covered by a carbon price by 2030.

But those allies want other countries to step up and commit this week.

“If there is a voice in the G7 that can really make that case, he is an excellent example of a pragmatic approach to carbon pricing. But pragmatic does not mean less ambition. It just means being sensible in implementation, ”said Lord Gregory Barker of Battle, who is the director of the World Bank’s initiative to put a global price on pollution.

Carney believes there is a growing awareness among governments that carbon pricing is an essential tool for reducing emissions. The private sector demands transparency in order to invest accordingly, says Carney. And once they get clarity, they will accumulate.

He wants to see action in the days ahead, when leaders and their negotiators meet at the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

“We need to leave the COP with a clear recognition from all governments that this is part of the solution,” he told reporters.

With China’s recent commitments, he estimates that around 30 to 40 percent of global emissions are covered by some kind of carbon price.

The thing is, there are 69 different countries with 69 different ways of pricing carbon. The IMF sees a global system where there are different prices for rich, emerging and developing countries. And while there are signs that the United States may be enthusiastic about the idea, the White House has resisted setting carbon prices until now.

All the goodwill and ambition on climate change will not lessen the technical difficulties around that.

We have a recent example to work with, one that Trudeau continues to conjure up: the global minimum corporate tax. Governments grappled for years with how to root out tax havens and make sure the big digital multinationals pay their fair share of taxes in the countries where they make money.

It wasn’t until US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came out last spring with a high-profile solution that the jam was quickly broken, at least by the standards of global diplomacy. G20 leaders approved it over the weekend.

But does Trudeau have that kind of stature?

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says no. Of course, he’s Trudeau’s political adversary, but he’s actually quite fond of the idea of ​​a global carbon tax.

“The idea is good,” Singh said in an interview at the summit. “The problem with Canada at the moment, or with Justin Trudeau, having been the only G7 nation that has increased emissions since it has been in power, does not give it the position or the stature to be able to push.”

He notes that until a year ago, liberals’ climate ambition was mediocre and emissions had not dropped. But according to Trudeau’s argument, the price of carbon that has since risen dramatically, and it should make a big difference to our emissions.

That’s where partnering with powerful international financial institutions and climate leaders can help Canada, says climate policy analyst Dan Woynillowicz of Polaris Strategy and Insight.

“Canada has gained credibility in national carbon pricing given its durability, through various elections now, and the scale and timing of the price. But by itself, that doesn’t provide enough weight, ”he says. “Collaborating with Mark Carney and the EU adds weight.”

As Trudeau knows better than anyone after having to fight repeated political and legal battles to lock in the carbon price, even the peso doesn’t guarantee much when it comes to asking people to pay.

But it is worth a try.