New economic order needed to fight climate change: Dion

From Brockville's Recorder & Times:

The world needs a new economic order if it is to mitigate the effects of climate change, former Liberal leader and onetime environment minister Stéphane Dion told a local environmental group on Sunday.

With a previous limit on global warming now all but impossible, the only way to prevent the catastrophe from escalating is to put in place global trade rules that penalize emissions, Dion told Transition Brockville, formerly known as the Brockville Climate Action Group, at its regular meeting held at the Brockville Public Library.

"If you want to change the world, you have to change the rules," said Dion.

Warning the group he was going to present a discouraging picture, Dion said the previously agreed-upon goal of limiting global warming to an increase of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages is essentially in the rear-view mirror.

Scientists now say that, if all nations honour their current emissions-reduction commitments – a big "if," Dion suggested – the temperature increase would still reach 3.5 degrees.

In fact, some believe a likelier scenario will be a five or six-degree increase, said Dion.

"That means that you will have areas of the world where life will not be sustainable at all," he added.

Not surprisingly, the current Liberal MP took aim at the Harper government for what he considers a weak performance on climate change.

"We are missing our weak target."

One problem with climate change, said Dion, is that the old phrase "think locally, act globally" no longer applies to it. In order for the climate problem to be solved, action is needed on a global scale.

As his proposed solution, Dion outlined an idea he first presented at the New Delhi sustainable economy summit in 2005: a world universal carbon price.

Scientists would determine what price should be put on the consequences of carbon dioxide emissions, an action that would adjust the market to reflect the consequences of pollution, said Dion.

Revenues from that carbon price would then go to governments to be spent on ways to green their economies, he suggested.

While this new regime should be enforced by individual nations by their own governments, said Dion, the system would have to be in place at the World Trade Organization level.

"Today, the trade rules penalize the countries that want to protect their populations from pollution," said Dion. "The polluters are the winners."

What is needed, said Dion, is a system of global trade rules designed for the good of the planet.

"Am I a dreamer? Yes. But if we don't dream, how will we get out of this mess?"

Dion acknowledged that it is difficult to motivate the general public to demand action on climate change, because any changes Canada might make would be insignificant in the face of emissions put out by such large polluters as China.

It is also difficult to motivate people in favour of sacrifices that will help the planet as a whole, as opposed to efforts that produce a tangible result on their own immediate surroundings, he said.

The former minister is not certain how long it will take for the physical effects of climate change to be severe enough to motivate people to act, for instance in response to floods or droughts.

"This kind of connection, I don't know when people will have it clear in their minds and start asking for changes accordingly," he said.

Audience member Sue Brandum, general manager of the Rideau Environmental Action League, said people in her position feel "stymied" by the current Conservative government's unwillingness to have a national discussion on climate change.

"We are all floundering right now in terms of where we should put our energy," she said.

Dion urged her not to give up.

"Your group must be more motivated than ever," he said.