Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity: Final Report on an Economic Study of Greenhouse Gas Targets and Policies for Canada

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There is now a broad scientific consensus that more than 2 C of average global warming above the pre-industrial level would constitute a dangerous level of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's leading climate science body, has shown that to have a chance of not exceeding the 2 C limit, industrialized countries need to reduce their combined emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to 25-40 per cent below the 1990 level by 2020, if they are to make a fair contribution to the necessary cuts in global emissions. The Government of Canada's current GHG target of 20 per cent below the 2006 level by 2020 is a much more modest reduction of just three percent relative to the 1990 level. However, as it is the government's current commitment, it is important to understand what policies would be needed to achieve this target.