A permanent decline in income spread across the country is bad enough but the impact of oil and gas phase-out would fall hardest on Alberta , arguing for the need to eliminate our oil and gas production. Since the oilpatch is the source of more than a quarter of our total greenhouse-gas emissions, perhaps this isn’t surprising.

Even though much of the federal government’s rhetoric points in this direction, it has not yet adopted this goal. But it has proposed a declining emissions cap from this sector, which could end up forcing output cuts if producers find it technically difficult to reduce their emissions.

In response to arguments favouring the phase-out of oil and gas production, I usually ask two questions. What would be the economic cost to Canada of such a policy? Is there a lower-cost way to reduce Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions?

A few weeks ago the Public Policy Forum released a report addressing these questions directly. The report shows the results of a modelling exercise undertaken by Navius Research, the go-to consulting firm for Canadian governments and non-governmental organizations examining the economic implications of various climate policies.

Credits to Head Topics Canada
calgaryherald.com">headtopics.com