Law Commons^™

Challenges And Opportunities Of A Forthcoming Strategic Assessment Of The Implications Of International Climate Change Mitigation Commitments For Individual Undertakings In Canada, Robert B. Gibson, Karine Péloffy, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Canada is preparing to initiate a challenging, but potentially ground-breaking, strategic assessment on the implications of its climate change mitigation commitments for project assessments. The strategic assessment is immediately needed to provide project-level guidance for decision makers who will be required under new federal legislation to consider the extent to which each assessed project “contributes to sustainability” and “hinders or contributes to” meeting Canada’s climate commitments. However, Canada, like many other countries, has not yet translated its Paris Agreementclimate commitments into an adequate suite of specific policies, pathways, budgets, and other directives for compliance. Consequently, the climate commitments’ strategic assessment …

An Independent Review Of Forest Practices In Nova Scotia: Executive Summary Conclusions And Recommendations, William Lahey Prof.

Reports & Public Policy Documents

My mandate was to make recommendations on forest practices that would, if implemented, balance environmental, social, and economic objectives, which I have interpreted to include values. My conclusion is that environmental, social, and economic values should be balanced by using forest practices that give priority to protecting and enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity.

In other words, I have concluded that protecting ecosystems and biodiversity should not be balanced against other objectives and values as if they were of equal weight or importance to those other objectives or values. Instead, protecting and enhancing ecosystems should be the objective (the outcome) of how …

Climate Change, Corporate Social Responsibility, And The Extractive Industries, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

During the negotiation of the Paris Agreement, many argued that the final text should integrate a human rights approach so as to better align climate governance under the UNFCCC with climate justice. Reference to human rights ultimately appeared only in the Preamble, despite submissions from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that urgent and ambitious State action to combat climate change is an existing duty of international human rights law. Another submission highlighted the role of businesses as duty-bearers who must contribute to climate mitigation and be accountable for climate impacts. This article will consider an unexplored avenue through …

Decades Of Climate Policy Failure In Canada: Can We Break The Vicious Cycle?, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper explores the causes of 20 years of climate policy failure in Canada.

Toward A Principled Design Of Provincial Cap & Trade Systems: Lessons From Nova Scotia's Proposal To Meet The Carbon Pricing Requirement In The Pan-Canadian Framework For Climate Change, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article explores the Cap & Trade System proposed by the province of Nova Scotia in response to the call in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change for all provinces to implement a carbon pricing mechanism. The proposed C & T system itself and the way it has been developed offers insights into ongoing debates in the governance of climate mitigation. The first debate is about the strength and weaknesses of various carbon pricing mechanisms, most notably the carbon tax and cap and trade systems. The second debate is about the relative importance of carbon pricing and …