Lender plots out new climate approach, calls out Canada for missing all targets
Ottawa Citizen, 20 Oct 2021
GEOFFREY MORGAN
RBC believes the Canadian government and the private sector need to spend $56.4 billion annually over 30 years in six different sectors to meet its net-zero emissions targets, which it says is less than what is spent on health care.
The cost of transitioning Canada’s economy to net-zero emissions is pegged at $2 trillion over the next 30 years, but funds are available to finance the transition, according to the country’s largest financial institution. “In total, it seems like a daunting number, but when you break it down, it’s manageable for an economy like Canada,” said John Stackhouse, senior vice-president at the office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada, and a co-author of the report released Wednesday. “We’re looking at $60 (billion) to $80 billion per year, that’s much less than we spend on health care, for example. It’s in line with what we aspire to spend on childcare.”
In a report called “The $2 Trillion Transition: Planning for Canada’s place in a Net Zero world,” RBC plots out a possible course for the country to reduce its emissions in line with a net-zero emissions target by 2050 and budgets the cost of the shift.
The cost is roughly equivalent to Canada’s annual GDP last year, which stood at just under $2 trillion last year, according to Statistics Canada.