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Economic Risks and Opportunities of Climate Change for Canada

The Economic Risks from Climate Impacts: Canadian Case Studies

July 30, 2009

Expert stakeholders gathered to provide early input and advice on the analytical approach and scope of a set of case studies to illustrate the economic risks of climate impacts for Canada ? an initiative underway by the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), specifically on:

• Clarity of the aims of the case studies, as part of the NRTEE?s EROCC program
• Issues of coverage and framing associated with the case study approach
• Candidate topics for case studies

Background:

The NRTEE has embarked on a two-year initiative on the economic risks and opportunities for Canada from (1) climate impacts and (2) the global transition to a low-carbon economy. The overall goal of the first stream of work is to illustrate, prioritize, monetize, and communicate the economic risks for Canada from climate impacts under different global emissions scenarios. Economic opportunities of climate change for Canada will feature more prominently in the NRTEE?s work on the global low-carbon transition.

The primary focus of the climate impacts research stream will be on raising awareness of the economic risks of a changing climate for Canada, and highlighting the policy responses to reduce those risks ? in terms of both mitigation and adaptation. The current debate on climate change in Canada focuses on the economics of domestic mitigation policy, and it is the aim of this program to broaden the debate to include the possible costs of climate impacts and the implications of these for Canada.

The NRTEE has decided to undertake a series of 4-6 ?bottom-up? economic impact studies (as opposed to ?top down? macroeconomic modelling studies), to illustrate a range of economic risks, while also informing an estimate of the national cost of climate impacts. Throughout the document, we refer to these studies as ?case studies?.