The green economy in North America is at a critical crossroads. Will it foster a new wave of economy-wide innovation, employment, and green growth, or will green sectors remain a niche within an overall “brown” economy? Much will depend on what replaces the current “policy void” since the green stimulus policies of the Great Recession. Currently, three major market disincentives remain: environmentally harmful subsidies, inadequate market-based incentives, and insufficient public support for private R&D. A policy strategy for green growth requires phasing out and rationalizing subsidies, instigating effective market-based instruments, and allocating the revenues raised to enhance green innovation.
This article was published in a special edition of Canadian Public Policy, “Big Ideas for Sustainable Prosperity: Policy Innovation for Greening Growth”, guest edited by the Smart Prosperity Institute.