Adam Legge is president of the Business Council of Alberta.
The hard reality is if we don’t improve our regulatory systems, Canada will not be able to approve, let alone build, the projects required.
Politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and the media regularly discuss decarbonization and a rosy future where Canada is no longer a net contributor of emissions that are causing global climate change.
But too often, absent from that discussion is what we actually have to do to meet the federal government’s objective to be a net-zero nation by 2050, never mind the ambitious environmental targets that are quickly approaching in 2030.
That is the difficult part of the conversation, because hitting these milestones will not be easy — nor will it be inexpensive. As the famous adage goes, we cannot expect it good, fast, and cheap.
While there are huge opportunities in the decarbonization of the economy, the reality is Canada’s energy transition will require record levels of investment in many areas — including critical minerals, power generation and transmission, hydrogen manufacturing and export, low carbon energy, and small modular reactors, among others.
For the rest of this column: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-unspoken-story-about-what-it-will-take-to-reach-net-zero-goals/article_3e52da85-1204-52b1-90eb-ab4062057e2d.html