A green entrepreneurial state as solution to climate federalism /

In the wake of participating in international climate negotiations in Paris, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to negotiate with the provinces to produce a new climate plan for Canada.1 If history is any guide, the discussions among the provinces will face many of the same challenges as the negotiations among countries at the international level.2 Disagreements occur among the pr [...] Innovation refers to the process of putting a new idea into practice.8 It includes the creation of new technologies, the diffusion of existing technologies, and social and organizational changes. [...] This consistent support for the technology created the potential for bitumen sands production to expand rapidly when oil prices started to increase in the 2000s.12 The oil sands provide an example of government setting a mission and taking on many of the risks of R&D, as well as early manufacturing and commercialization, and then shaping the environment for the technology through regulatory change [...] A German research institute focused on “passive house” design was created in 1996, and today the Germans have become leaders in this type of super-efficient construction.15 The contrast between the development of the bitumen sands and the Conservation House demonstrates that the larger policy context determines the ultimate success or failure of RD&D initiatives. [...] The prioritization of CCS and other fossil fuel-based low-carbon technologies, to the exclusion of other green energy options, could reinforce fossil fuel lock-in and lead to a technological dead end, where Canada is unable to reach the objective of full decarbonization.