A global survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that 94 per cent of Canadians expect to change the way they do business over the next two or three years in anticipation of climate change policies, and 98 per cent believe regulation is the best way to influence that change. Roughly 60 per cent of Canadian respondents think the government, not the private sector, should have primary responsibility for leading behavioural change. The global average here is 44 per cent, and only 23 per cent in the United States. So is government doing enough? Uh… no — 70 per cent of Canadian respondents said current government policies — and I assume they’re talking federal policies — are ineffective.

So, it makes one wonder: Why is our federal government attaching itself to the U.S. hip on these issues when clearly, Canadians think differently and want our government to lead, not follow? Opposition parties have failed us on this issue, particularly the Liberals. Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has been ineffective on the climate change file. He’s been invisible. Even if there is a change in government, it’s unclear what it would accomplish. Increasingly, I’m hearing from the business community that a carbon tax would be the preferred mechansim for pricing carbon. There is growing fear that cap-and-trade is the wrong way to go, if only because it’s complex and open to widespread manipulation and abuse.

Is it time to rekindle talk of carbon taxes and “green shifting” on the federal political scene? Some might consider it suicide, based on how former Liberal leader Stephane Dion got killed on the issue. I disagree. I think it can be resurrected, and should be resurrected. But it needs a convincing leader behind it, one who is able to articulate the benefits clearly and stand up to the scare tactics of the Conservatives; one who can build alliances with the business community, with consumer and labour groups, and with provinces and municipalities.

Any takers?

Oh boy, there’s certainly a lot of work to do.

So says PricewaterhouseCoopers, which put out an analysis looking at how well the world is doing toward reaching emission cuts required by 2050. It concluded that, on average, the world is off track by 10 per cent with regards to staying within its carbon budget for the period between 2000 and 2050. This is based on a global carbon budget of 1,300 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, which aims to limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees C (relatively to pre-industrial levels). “At current rates of carbon intensity improvement, the world will already have exceeded its estimated global carbon budget for the first half of this century by 2034, 16 years ahead of schedule,” according to PwC. “Such a ‘business as usual’ scenario could result in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations exceeding 1000ppm CO2e by the end of the century with potentially disastrous implications for the climate system and the global economy.”

Just a reminder: the aim is to stay below 450ppm, and some believe that 350ppm is what’s really required. Translation: Yikes!

Based on this analysis, Canada needs to reduce its emissions roughly 90 per cent from today’s levels to get back on track toward the 2050 goal. On a global basis, PwC estimates that to get back on track the world must reduce its carbon intensity by 3.5 per cent a year by 2020, or 35 per cent “cumulatively” between 2008 and 2020.

We’ve got our work cut out for us… time to roll up our sleeves.

I say “must-see”, of course, because I’ll be moderating the panel

But seriously, this year’s Green Living Show in Toronto between April 24 and 26 will be more geared this year to the cleantech crowd, specifically on Day 1 . Beginning with some opening comments from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto mayor David Miller (and a provincial announcement of some sort), the panel will kick off at around 10 a.m. and will explore what businesses can do to benefit from cleantech and green energy. About 30 or so CEOs from Canada’s cleantech sector will be in the audience as well.

Panelists will include:

1) Nick Parker, co-founder and executive chairman and overall excellent guy of the Cleantech Group.

2) Dr. Hermann Scheer, author, German legislator and president of EUROSOLAR.

3) David O’Brien, president and CEO of Toronto Hydro Corp.

4) Someone from PriceWaterhouseCoopers will also be on the panel to talk about the tax benefits/implications for businesses that purchase/deploy green technologies.

The morning session will be followed by a keynote speech from Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, co-founder of Clean Edge Inc., author of blog Two Steps Forward, and author of the new business book Strategies for the Green Economy.

It should be an interesting and informative morning… and show.