Climate Change and Canada’s Economic Future

Mike Brown, Chair
PCF Action Group 

https://www.rethinkclimate.com/

Mike Brown has been a Vancouver economist, entrepreneur and venture
person for more than 50 years. He has specialized in starting companies which
address climate change through technology innovation, such as Ballard Power,
General Fusion, Cellex Power, Questair, and others. He co-founded ReThink
Climate in 2016. It starts companies which will produce new, high-impact
commercial products capable of making a significant difference to climate
change issues. The ReThink team is uniquely experienced at turning science
into products, and has developed methods which short-cut start-up cycles for
hardware-oriented product development. He has led other industry groups,
notably the PCF Action Group, which has been investigating ways to address
the threat of GHG emissions from the permafrost. Mike was educated in
economics at UBC and Oxford and is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Topic: “Climate Change and Canada’s Economic Future"

Canada has the highest global per capita emissions of CO2. In 2023, about 8%
of global GHG emissions came from Canada. Most of that was from the two
positive feedback loops of emissions from wildfires and the permafrost.
Canada is spending nothing to reduce those emissions. Because of its
production of fossil fuels, Canadians’ prosperity has evolved to where we
expect a robust Standard of Living. However, Canada is finding it difficult to
reduce anthropogenic emissions, just as we are facing more extreme weather
events, and external pressures such as more climate refugees. If Canada has
any responsibility to address its GHG emissions, what level of expense can
Canada accommodate to do that before that Standard of Living deteriorates
unacceptably, and are we facing becoming a version of a failed state? What
can Canada realistically do to avoid this fate?