Climate Change: Time to Act

By John Stewart
Director, Policy and Research
Canadian Nuclear Association

According to a poll published last week by Canada 2020 and the University of Montreal, 71% of Canadians think climate change should be a top priority of the federal government.

And 84% believe the federal government should take primary responsibility for addressing global warming.

On climate change, the discussions on “whether or not” and “why” are over.  Now the discussion is about how to respond, and how quickly.  That’s going to involve everyone.

While there is a useful ongoing dialog on climate going on this week in Warsaw, it’s plain to most of us that the disease is progressing much more quickly than the cure.

Few players will merely wait until national governments lead us.

Companies, junior levels of government, and other organizations of all stripes – community to industry to international — are stepping up.  This reflects a wider pattern of smaller players driving some of the most progressive and imaginative policy movements.

The UN Global Compact has just released guidelines to help companies engage transparently and accountably in climate policy:

This week at the Canadian Nuclear Association, we launched two important and complementary initiatives:

• First meeting of our GHG Working Group.  The Working Group will spend coming months developing an industry position on GHGs.
• Kickoff of a major independent study of the life-cycle emissions from power generation.  The study, by the engineering group Hatch, will compare lifespan emissions from nuclear, natural gas, and wind.

Our purpose is to contribute sound, well-thought-out ideas to federal and provincial dialogs on controlling GHGs.

In a related initiative, we are also beginning to consult CNA members and environmental experts about a sustainability code of practice.

Momentum is building, not just in Warsaw, but around the world.

Not in decades has the world’s population faced a common struggle like this one.  The threat is against all of us.  Organizations big and small are engaging actively, and with strong public support.