Recommendations for Recovery and Budget Actions in 2020-2021

As a society, we are at a crossroads. The need for recovery from the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 has tasked us with a historic responsibility. We can choose to reinvest in the status quo, or we can rebuild better and more safely. The choices we make will define our ability to deliver a society, economy and environment that is more resilient, just, and sustainable for current and future generations.
The Green Budget Coalition strongly encourages making climate and biodiversity objectives central to Canada’s recovery, and is featuring four recommendations to create jobs while accelerating Canada’s responses to the climate and biodiversity crises through additive investments in:
- Building energy efficiency retrofits – $10 billion to improve energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in schools, hospitals, social housing, and residential buildings;
- Clean transportation – $4.8 billion over five years, including transit, zero emission vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, and decarbonizing fuel supply;
- Nature-based climate solutions – $2.6 billion over five years, including reducing emissions through restoration of forests, grasslands, and wetlands, improved management of forestry and agricultural lands, and supporting natural infrastructure solutions; and
- Protected areas – $4.8 billion over five years, including increased support for Indigenous protected areas and Guardians programs.
The full report can be downloaded above. Individual recommendations can be accessed online below:
- Introduction & Executive Summary
- Who We Are
- Climate Action
- Feature Recommendation: Building Retrofits Jobs – Investments to Reduce Emissions
- Feature Recommendation: Stimulus Investments to Boost Clean Transportation
- Complementary Climate Action Recommendations
- Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies
- Avoiding Taxpayer Liabilities for Small Modular Reactors
- Accelerating Renewable and Decentralized Energy
- A Future Beyond Fossil Fuels and a Just Transition for Workers and Communities
- Independent Monitoring of Methane Emissions
- Marine Shipping – Reducing Climate Impacts
- International Climate Finance
- Strengthening Carbon Pricing
- Helping Restaurants Reduce Reliance on Single-Use Plastics
- Sustainable Finance Report
- Creation of Expert Advisory Committee for forthcoming climate legislation
- Ensuring Budget 2020 Reflects True Costs of Climate Change
- Nature and Biodiversity Conservation
- Feature Recommendation: Nature-Based Climate Solutions
- Feature Recommendation: Creating & Managing Protected Areas, including Indigenous protected areas and Guardians programs
- Complementary Nature Conservation Recommendations
- Restoration
- Establishing the Pollinator Conservation Initiative
- Investing in Communities by Protecting Canada’s Freshwater
- Climate-Resilience Through Natural Infrastructure Solutions
- Ecological Goods and Services Programming for Agricultural Lands
- National Wildlife Collision Reporting & Infrastructure
- Reinforcing Canada’s Frontline of Defense against Wildlife Diseases
- Managing Healthy Oceans
- Marine Spatial Plans & MPA Network establishment
- Marine Monitoring, Research, Compliance and Enforcement
- Fisheries science and management capacity to rebuild fish stocks and protect marine species-at-risk
- Environmental sustainability within all aquaculture programs
- Reducing spill risks and biodiversity impacts from marine shipping
- Expanding Ghost Gear Clean-Up
- Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture
- Conserving Canada’s Birds Across their Year-Round Range
- International Biodiversity Conservation
- Increasing Canada’s Role in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Other Environmental Priorities
- Making Budget 2021 a Canadian Well-Being Budget
- Establishing a Canada Water Agency
- Renewal of the Chemicals Management Plan
- Closing the Resource Gap at Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency
- Upgrading Enforcement of Environmental Laws
- Improving Environmental Data and Science to Support Evidence-Based Decisions
- Collaborating on Regional-Scale Environmental Governance
- Appendix 1: Transitioning to Environmentally Sustainable Land Management & Food Production in Canada in the next Canadian Agriculture Partnership & Business Risk Management Plan
- Appendix 2: Summary Tables of Recommendations’ Associated Costs (and Savings)