Canada’s economy is set to “shrink significantly” with the introduction of climate change programs, warns Toni Gravelle, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada (BoC.).Gravelle predicts “sharp declines” in whole economic sectors, but did not indicate an estimate of job losses, said Blacklock’s Reporter..“Our actions to mitigate climate change will lead to massively restructuring global economies, everybody’s economy,” said Gravelle..“You’ll see certain sectors shrink in terms of, particularly emission-sensitive sectors shrink significantly, in terms of economic presence as time goes on.”.In a videoconference with Toronto executives, Gravelle said by year-end, the BoC plans to release data on “the 10 most carbon-intensive sectors” and the impacts climate change programs will have on the Canadian economy..“We’re going to release in relatively fine detail the data underlying the scenarios themselves, the sectoral impacts, the negative income impacts by sector as well, so that financial institutions can grab that and, reading the technical documents, should hopefully be better able to do their own risk assessment,” said Gravelle..Gravelle points to the necessary restructuring that happened over time in hi-tech as an example..“The restructuring we’ll see as a result of us trying to mitigate climate change is going to be that, but on steroids in terms of economic restructuring,” said Gravelle..“Society’s effort to mitigate the fiscal risks related to climate change will also generate another kind of risk — transition risk — which is the risk that certain parts of the economy will shrink … and asset values across the financial system could be subject to sharp declines in valuation which might generate credit and market losses, and it might increase the stress on the financial system.”.Federal departments and the BoC have yet to detail expected job losses due to climate change programs..In an October 27 videoconference with a Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland compared the impending economic disruption from the shift away from fossil fuels to that of Great Britain’s agriculture economy in the 19th century Industrial Revolution..“None of us can understate the magnitude of the transition that the global economy is beginning now when it comes to moving from using fossil fuel energy to renewable energy,” said Freeland..“It is going to take so much hard work from all of us.”.Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
