Thank you very much. It's a real pleasure to be here. Thank you for the opportunity.
I would like to make a few comments initially about why we need energy data. I would argue that we need it because we live in a world of very rapid change. In most cases, these changes arise from outside of government as the result of technology, business model, or social innovation. Sometimes governments work to drive systems change in order to address socio-economic or environmental challenges, and climate change is one of those challenges. Either way, we need high-quality, comprehensive data to carry out the critical analysis and modelling that are needed to inform policy and investment decisions.
In the next nine minutes, I'd like to identify or address three questions. The first is what kind of energy data we need. I would argue that we need data that will allow us to fully understand all parts of the numerous energy systems that link energy resources provided by Mother Nature to the energy services that humans want and need.
Some of the energy data already exists; it is provided by Canadian agencies and is easily accessed, but there are currently serious shortcomings in the completeness and quality of the data. I've handed out a briefing note where I've identified some of the shortcomings, but I don't have time today to discuss each point individually. You'll be thankful for that.
However, I will mention one. Our current thinking about human and anthropogenic energy systems only tracks the flows of energy and carbon through fuels and electricity. It does not consider the flows of energy and carbon that are associated with our food and fibre production. Work we have been doing in the last few years has shown that the annual flows of energy and carbon through Canada's agriculture and forestry sectors is about the same size as our national oil industry, including all of the Alberta oil sands, yet we ignore it. In a world concerned about anthropogenic climate change, I would argue that this is short-sighted, and that there are opportunities within agriculture and forestry to address our environmental issues.
The second question I'd like to address is what useful products energy data can support. The first and obvious one is for forecasting future energy systems based on existing policies and programs plus assumptions about population and economic growth. The second, of course, is to inform government policies by assessing the effectiveness of past and ongoing policies and programs. Energy data is important for that. Perhaps one of the most important is to predict the likely outcome of various new policies for reducing emissions: carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, renewable energy initiatives, etc.
The third product, which I'd really like to focus on today, is to allow us to explore transition pathways. I would argue that Canada desperately needs credible, compelling transition pathways for energy systems that are actually capable of achieving the target we've agreed to in the pan-Canadian framework, which is for large greenhouse gas emission reductions while enhancing economic prosperity.
Despite the fact that Canada has been making climate change commitments for the past 20 years, we have never before defined transition pathways for how we could successfully reach those targets. Perhaps it's not surprising, therefore, that we failed to meet both our 1997 Kyoto commitment and our 2009 Copenhagen commitment.
We still have time to meet our Paris commitments, but we need a plan. I would actually argue that we need plans—with an “s”, plural plans—that are credible, compelling, and capable of success. Comprehensive data on energy systems is essential to defining those transition pathways, but it is very important that the pathways be about more than simply reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To be economically credible and compelling to key stakeholders, the transition pathways must address some of the other major problems that exist in our current energy systems. For example, our transportation system generates over 160 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. That's a serious problem, but it also kills or seriously injures more than 10,000 Canadians per year, contributes to over $30 billion per year in the social cost of air pollution, and creates congestion that reduces productivity in Canada by tens of billions of dollars per year.
Also, personal vehicle ownership costs the average Canadian family about $11,000 per year, but families only use their vehicles about 4% of the time; 96% of the time they're parked on the most expensive land in Canada, with more than four parking lots for every vehicle in Canada. They also make our communities more car friendly and a lot less people friendly, which creates other social problems. Clearly, we need to address these issues and [Inaudible—Editor] could provide the major economic drivers for also addressing the climate change issue.
High-quality energy data is essential to develop collective visions and strategies for building energy systems of tomorrow that are environmentally, economically, socially, and ethically sustainable.
The third and final question is, what should governments do?
My briefing note provides some recommendations for an energy data ecosystem that includes the establishment of two new organizations with very different but complementary mandates.
One is a Canadian energy information organization with a mandate to compile, validate, and make available detailed regional, historic data relevant to the energy supply and demand in Canada. This needs to be closely linked to government departments that actually have the authority to go out and collect that energy data. It needs a governance structure that engages the provinces, territories, municipalities, and industry associations that provide the data, as well as those organizations that are going to be users of that data. The CEIO, as I would call it, must be trusted and fact-based, with the highest standards of quality control. It should be open access, informative, and non-controversial.
The second organization, I would argue, is not as well or clearly defined, but I'm calling it the Canadian transitions pathway initiative. This would be an organization to bring together the innovators and thought leaders across Canada, from industry, academic groups, environmental groups, and municipal governments right through provincial, territorial, and federal departments. Their challenge would be to define the credible, compelling transition pathways that are actually capable of achieving societal goals, including but not limited to greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The governance structure for this organization must be independent, free-standing, apolitical, and with an initial long-term tenure funding period. It's going to take a while to set this up and get it moving.
By defining, characterizing, and critically assessing numerous transition pathways, the Canadian transition pathway initiative would see the spinoff of industry-led consortia that continue to build the visions, develop the technologies, and support the most promising transitional pathways.
In closing, Canada needs to invest in an energy data ecosystem that will not only contribute to evidence-based decision-making but help Canadians come together in support of collective visions for credible, compelling pathways to a better future.
Thanks again for this opportunity.