Green Economic Momentum

No time for environmental weakness

January 24, 2011 - Dear Mr. Abbott, Ms. Clark, Mr. de Jong, Mr. Dix, Mr. Falcon, Mr. Farnworth, Mr. Horgan, Mr. Lali, Mr. Larsen, Mr. Mayne, Mr. Simons, and Dr. Stilwell:

This winter has seen remarkable strides in worldwide leadership on combating global warming. December alone saw Japan announce an escalating carbon tax, designed to curb fossil-fuel consumption; California's Air Resources Board voted to adopt the large-emitter cap-and-trade provision laid out in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Clean Energy Act; and Chris Huhne, Minister of Energy in the U.K., set out a four-point program that includes a national carbon tax tied to reductions in income and employment taxes.

Curbing carbon pollution and slowing global warming while putting money in people's pockets makes obvious sense. But there are additional benefits. California's renewable-energy sector is now growing more rapidly than any other segment of its economy, providing tens of thousands of new, well-paying jobs while broadening the tax base. In B.C., the carbon tax is stimulating capital investment and innovation that is helping to drive the GDP associated with the green economy from $15 billion in 2008 to a projected $20 to $27 billion by 2020, as much as 15 per cent of provincial output. Some 225,000 direct and indirect green jobs will be in place by 2020, up from 166,000 in 2008.

The respected Cambridge Energy Research Associates estimates that $7 trillion will be invested in renewable energy worldwide by 2030 -- and B.C. is well placed to help drive that revolution, provided we have the right leader at the helm. Who among you is willing to step into Gordon Campbell's climate-action shoes and run on a campaign that will build on the green economic momentum he established? continued}