Some time in the next while, the Supreme Court of Canada will issue its decision on the constitutionality of the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Politicians in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario will dance in the streets if the Supreme Court overturns the legislation. They argue that, by putting a price on carbon emissions, it is just a disguised tax measure encroaching on provincial jurisdiction. For others, such a decision would be a regrettable setback, limiting and possibly preventing any meaningful pan-Canadian climate-change policy.
What hasn’t been mentioned in media circles, and wasn’t raised in arguments at the Supreme Court, is that if the court says the act is unconstitutional, together with…
Suddenly, inflation is in the news. In Canada and abroad, spending is surging and COVID-impaired production is struggling to keep up. Key commodities – oil, lumber and metals – are expensive.
It is front-of-mind in financial markets as well. The yield on the federal government’s 30-year bonds, which was below 0.9 per cent last August, topped 2.0 per cent last week – well above its pre-pandemic level.
Do these headlines and fears represent overreactions to rogue statistics and possible minor tactical shifts by central banks? Or is something more fundamental happening? Will politicians who won’t stop spending more than they tax end up forcing central banks to print money to cover the difference?
Current indicators and…
La création probable d’un Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) mondial fera avancer la finance durable d’un grand pas, lui permettant d’exercer une pression plus efficace sur les entreprises, afin qu’elles s’engagent elles aussi dans un plan de transition vers la carboneutralité, dans leur propre intérêt et celui de la planète.
La cible nette zéro carbone d’ici 2050 est en voie d’être adoptée par le Canada et de nombreux pays, ainsi que par un nombre grandissant d’entreprises et d’investisseurs.
Le SSB aura pour mission d’établir des normes internationales régissant la divulgation par les entreprises des informations de nature ESG, c’est-à-dire portant sur leurs actions et leurs effets sur l’environnement, mais…
