Back in 2021, Mark Carney spoke before a parliamentary committee in the U.K. about how countries can reduce their carbon emissions without harming economic competitiveness. He said “the most effective policy is a price on carbon,” but cautioned that if one country moves ahead of the pack and adopts stricter emissions policies, this “creates the risk of carbon leakage.”

Carbon leakage happens when government policies (environmental regulation, taxes, etc.) in one country drive companies to relocate production to jurisdictions to countries with less punitive policies. Not only will the country with more punitive policies lose economic activity as production and investment move elsewhere, but the environmental benefits will also be offset, undermined or reversed by increased emissions elsewhere.

SEGELHORST, ALIAKBARI: Carbon tax could push investment out of Alberta — for no environmental benefit Back to video

Questions for Alberta

This raises a........

© Edmonton Sun