Bold climate action needs a basic income

Imagine three groups of people are lost at sea. One group is stuck on a big yacht. Another is spread across a flotilla of rowboats, all of them vulnerable to the next big wave. The third group is out in the open, treading water. This visual illustrates how our income shapes our ability to navigate the challenges of COVID-19, climate change, or any of the crises facing Canada today. While the richest group with more than enough can get by without much risk, the group with the fewest resources must use all its energy just to stay afloat. This was the reality when Governor General Mary Simon read the Speech from the Throne just weeks ago, which included a stark warning about the state of climate change. Simon emphasized the need for urgent action and committed the federal government to measures including cutting oil and gas sector emissions and accelerating Canada’s path to net zero. While these and other climate commitments are crucial, it’s clear that more is needed now to protect us from future disasters. Before the dust had settled on the COP26 climate summit, analysts had already warned that even if all countries keep their promises to cut emissions by 2030, the world is still on track for a global temperature rise of 2.4 C. This is well above the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 C target and would accelerate the devastating climate effects we’re already seeing—like extreme heat and drought, severe storms and flooding, crop failures, and sea level rise. The safety of communities across Canada depends on bold climate action. But the shift to a low-carbon economy will mean big changes for all of us—changes that could affect how we live, work, get around, and more. That’s why it will only be possible with financial policies that can ease anxieties spurred by major change and the economic risk that accompanies it. Community resilience—a community’s ability to respond to and recover from climate disruptions like the ones we’re seeing right now, literally from coast to coast—is an essential part of any plan to transition off fossil fuels. We need community resilience to meet the challenges of climate change, and we need income security to build strong, healthy communities equipped with the tools they need to take action. We know that it’s almost impossible to think about reducing emissions when you’re struggling just to make ends meet. But so far, there has been little co-ordinated effort to connect climate policy to the need for liveable incomes that ensure everyone has the basic capacity to navigate social, economic, and environmental transition. Public opinion polls show strong support for action on both climate change and income inequality in Canada. What if we tackled both together? What if a basic income is the first step to giving people the security they need to participate in the low-carbon transition? What if it could give us the freedom to choose how we’ll spend our time, plan for the future, or take action on climate in our communities? By ensuring that everyone can meet their basic needs, participate in their communities, and live with dignity, a basic income provides a simple alternative to Canada’s current income security system which leaves many trapped in a cycle of preventable anxiety and poverty. Basic income pilot programs around the world have delivered better health and access to education, more time and money to spend on care and community work, decreased violence, increased empowerment for disadvantaged and marginalized communities, and more. Basic income can be the key to the climate plan Canada needs, easing uncertainty around the shift toward a low-carbon economy with new jobs and locally grounded community resilience. It can give communities the resources to make their own decisions about how to take action on climate change. And it can spark the excitement that’s needed to get wider public buy-in on all aspects of the net-zero transition. We have the solution. We know that it works. It’s time for Canada to think big on climate and commit to a basic income so that no one is left behind in the shift to a low-carbon economy. Mitchell Beer is publisher of The Energy Mix, a thrice-weekly e-digest on climate change, energy, and the shift off carbon. Sheila Regehr has been a member of the Basic Income Canada Network since its founding in 2008 and its chair since 2014. She was the executive director of the National Council of Welfare from 2006 to 2011. They both serve on the steering committee of the Green Resilience Project, which is organizing a series of conversations across Canada on the links between climate change, income security and community resilience. The Hill Times