In November, Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission released two new publications: We Can’t Get There from Here: Why Pricing Congestion is Critical to Beating It and Provincial Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness Pressures.
We Can’t Get There from Here: Why Pricing Congestion
We can’t Get There from Here suggests that while creating more transportation choices is part of the solution to reducing traffic congestion, providing better incentives is the missing piece of the puzzle. Attaching a fee to driving on congested routes particularly increases urban mobility by encouraging more informed transportation choices, while making all other transportation investments work better.
The report makes four recommendations:
- Major Canadian cities should implement congestion pricing pilot projects
- Provincial governments should initiate, enable, or facilitate congestion pricing pilot projects
- The federal government should help fund pilot projects
- Governments should carefully evaluate the performance of pilot projects, communicate the results broadly, and incorporate lessons learned into future mobility policies
Click here to read the report for the full analysis or start with Ecofiscal’s video series: Stuck in Traffic with an Economist, featuring Ecofiscal Chair Chris Ragan.
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Provincial Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness Pressures
The Ecofiscal Commission’s first carbon pricing report, The Way Forward, made the case that provincial carbon pricing leadership is both a practical and effective way to make urgent climate policy strides. But different carbon prices in different provinces raise valid concerns about business competitiveness.
On November 18, the Ecofiscal released new research to shed light on those concerns. Their findings: business competitiveness challenges are likely smaller than often thought, but nonetheless present decision-makers with important considerations as they develop new provincial carbon pricing polices.
Click here to read the paper.