Carbon Pricing Webinar

CHOOSING WISELY: RESPONSIBLY RECYCLING REVENUES FROM CARBON PRICING

The Conference Board of Canada, June 16, 2016 at 2:00pm (03:00 PM EDT)
**Live Webinar – Please arrive early**

Carbon pricing. The primary objective is, of course, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but that’s only half the story. Carbon pricing can also generate substantial revenue for provincial governments, which can then be recycled back into the economy. However, just how this money is used can have lasting effects on both the economic and environmental objectives of the province and the people living in it. So how can governments ensure that these funds will be used in the best way possible?

Join Dr. Chris Ragan, Chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, for this 60-minute webinar in which he will guide you through the Commission’s newest report, Choose Wisely: Options and Trade-offs in Recycling Carbon Pricing Revenues, published in April 2016. As priorities differ across provinces, revenue-recycling choices will differ across the country. Dr. Ragan will explore these changes, and discuss how household fairness and business competitiveness challenges can be addressed with good policy and a proper strategy. Dr. Ragan will offer a pragmatic starting point for the broader discussion and information gathering required to address competitiveness issues head-on in a way that is fair, effective, and data-driven.

In addition, Dr. Ragan will also discuss the costs and benefits of six revenue recycling options featured in the report:

• transferring revenue to households
• reducing existing tax rates
• investing in emissions-reducing innovation and technology
• investing in critical public infrastructure
• reducing government debt
• providing transitional support to industry.

Don’t miss this chance to hear directly from and pose questions to the chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal commission.

About Chris

Dr. Chris Ragan is Chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission and Associate Professor, Macroeconomics and Economic Policy, McGill University. Prior to joining the faculty at McGill in 1989, Chris Ragan was the David Dodge Chair in Monetary Policy at the C.D. Howe Institute. Dr. Ragan has a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.