Sustainability: A Winning Merger of Growth and the Environment

Is Canada using the right measures and instruments to inform public policy debate and business decision-making regarding sustainable development? A Winning Merger of Growth and the Environment—an excerpt from Volume I of the final report of The Canada Project expected to be released in January 2007—discusses the pros and cons of Canada’s attempts to deal with climate change and manage pollution and resources. The briefing concludes that, although important movements have been made at the macro level toward social and political acceptance of sustainability, much remains to be done. Improved measurement of the close relationship between gross domestic product and macro-level sustainability is required if we are to minimize the economic impact on Canada from greenhouse gas reduction and other global resource management issues. It recommends that economic growth and concern for the physical environment need to be integrated into a single concept of sustainable prosperity.