Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Cloverdale—Langley City.
Addressing climate change and supporting clean growth is a top priority for the Government of Canada, for the provinces and territories, and indeed for all Canadians. The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly evident. Sea levels are rising, threatening coastal regions with increased erosion. Extreme flood events and wildfires are becoming more common and severe. In the north, where temperatures are rising at three times the global average, the permafrost is thawing and the sea ice is melting.
The Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 was a historic achievement and a clear signal from the international community that we need to act on climate change. Nearly 200 countries committed to taking strong action to reduce emissions. Canada can be proud of the role it has played on the international stage to advance the Paris Agreement.
Canada's commitment under the Paris Agreement is to reduce our emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. This is an ambitious but achievable target, and we have already started to take action.
Together with provinces and territories, and with input from indigenous peoples and other stakeholders, we developed the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change, and it was adopted by first ministers in December 2016. This is our collective plan to reduce emissions while growing the economy and taking steps to adapt to climate change, unlike the party on the other side.
For the last decade, members of the party opposite refused to act on climate change, and some outright denied it was even real. In fact, some of them are taking credit for a reduction in emissions when our economy had the biggest slump since the last economic downturn. If that is their plan, I do not want any part of it.
In failing to implement a credible plan, they put our environment and our economy in jeopardy, as I have already mentioned. They continue to ignore the science and the reality unfolding in their very own communities. Doing nothing is not an option, and it misses the very significant economic opportunities for Canada.
Our climate plan is built around four pillars: pricing carbon pollution; complementary actions to reduce emissions; adaptation and climate resilience; and clean technology, innovation, and jobs.
Carbon pricing is a foundational element of our climate plan. Canadians know that pollution is not free. Climate pollution leads to droughts, floods, wildfires, and extreme weather, and it affects our health. All of these are already costing Canadians more than $1 billion a year in insurance costs alone.
Carbon pricing is based on the idea that the polluter should pay. When pollution has a price, polluting less saves money. Experts around the world agree that carbon pricing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions while driving clean innovation and creating new jobs. That is because it is not prescriptive. It allows companies and individuals to make their own decisions on how best to cut emissions.
Carbon pricing also encourages innovation. When it costs more to pollute, fuel switching, energy efficiency, and clean technologies become more desirable and valuable. Putting a price on carbon tells investors in Canada and around the world that we are on a path toward a low-carbon economy, and that Canada is a good place to develop and deploy new clean technologies.
The Government of Canada is taking a flexible approach when it comes to carbon pricing. We recognize that Canada's four largest provinces, representing over 80% of our population, have already implemented a price on carbon pollution. By the way, those provinces had the best economic growth last year.
The pan-Canadian approach we outlined in October 2016 laid out the government's intention to have carbon pricing in place throughout Canada, with broad coverage across the economy and increasing its stringency over time. This approach gives provinces and territories the flexibility to choose the pricing system that makes sense for their circumstances.
It could be a direct price system, such as B.C.'s carbon tax and Alberta's carbon levy, and a performance-based system for industrial facilities, or it could be a cap and trade system, such as those adopted in Ontario and Quebec. We continue to work with the remaining provinces and territories as they assess their options. Many are choosing to implement their own systems.
The government also committed to implementing a federal pricing system, which will apply in any province or territory that requests it, as well as in any province or territory that does not implement a system aligned with the federal benchmark.
The federal system has two components: combining a charge on fossil fuels, generally paid by fuel producers and distributors, with a performance-based system enabling emission trading for large industry. The performance-based system is designed to maintain the competitiveness of Canadian businesses and reduce the risk of carbon leakage, where emissions are displaced to other countries with weaker carbon policies. The system does this while preserving the incentive to reduce emissions and innovate. Performance standards will be set for big industrial operations. If they perform better than the standard, they get a credit they can sell; if they perform worse, they pay for their pollution. The standard creates an incentive to clean up their operations.
Our approach to carbon pricing recognizes the important work that provinces and territories have already done. It recognizes that different parts of the country may face different challenges and have different needs, but that at the end of the day, we all have to do our part.
Carbon pricing is important and foundational, but it is only one of the numerous actions we are taking to reduce emissions and drive clean growth. We are phasing out coal-fired power, cutting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, making buildings more energy efficient, and taking steps to put more zero-emission vehicles on the road.
The Government of Canada is making major investments in clean growth and climate change. We are investing over $2.2 billion to support clean technology and innovation, and over $21 billion in green infrastructure, including $2 billion for a disaster mitigation and adaptation fund. We have launched the $500-million low-carbon economy challenge, which will fund projects across Canada that reduce emissions and drive clean growth.
We are also working to make sure Canada is prepared for climate change. We are already seeing climate impacts, and they will only continue to increase in the future. That is why we are investing in infrastructure to protect against floods and other disasters, and we are helping to make sure communities across Canada have the information they need to make decisions with climate change in mind.
After the party opposite spent a decade dragging its feet on the climate file, Canadians deserve a serious, smart, and thoughtful plan to protect the environment and grow the economy. They deserve a plan that spurs innovation and creates well-paying middle-class jobs, and that is exactly what we are delivering.
Canadians know that now is the time to act. We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change and the last generation that has the opportunity to stop it. That is why the government has a concrete plan and is not wasting any time putting it into action.