While we wrestle with the immediate economic impacts of COVID-19, we cannot afford to miss the opportunity to lay the groundwork for long-term prosperity.
The BC Greens championed the Emergency Economy Task Force to look at the future opportunities and challenges facing our economy. The task force zeroed in on climate change as one of the major forces shaping our economy and highlighted the opportunities that come with developing a low-carbon economy. They also didn’t mince their words about the scale of this challenge:
"To accomplish this, our aspirations have to extend beyond mitigating climate change in our province and instead focus on the new opportunities to make deliberate investments into green innovation."
The first step the BC Greens will take is to align our innovation strategy with our mission of establishing BC as a world-leading low-carbon economy. This means establishing a new strategic innovation fund that can make targeted investments that align with our climate goals. We must also leverage government procurement processes to prioritize BC-based, low-carbon products and technology.
Making a deliberate choice to build on our strengths in green innovation means moving away from fossil fuels. We need to be immediately ending the subsidies that the BC NDP have offered to the fossil fuel industry, and put this funding behind new green economic sectors. BC has to make a choice—we can’t have it both ways.
Too many governments use innovation as a buzzword but don't channel the direction it takes. The BC Greens are committed to making our innovation policy in BC a bigger part of the economic strategy we use to deliberately build towards the future we want.
The BC Greens' plan for Innovation funding
With a particular emphasis on supporting innovations that help the shift to a zero-carbon economy.