Natural
Capital:
A Critical Foundation of Our Economy
Executive
Summary
In
this 2004 Greening of the Budget submission, the National
Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) emphasizes
that Canada must take better account of the full range of
assets necessary to sustain a healthy society and economy.
These assets represent our nation’s “capital,”
an economic term first used to designate entities such as
buildings and equipment that ensured economic production in
the future. This submission stresses that other types of capital
– in particular, the environmental assets that provide
the ecological “services” that make life possible
– are also important to our future well-being. The concept
of sustainable development requires that future generations
have the necessary capital of all types – and certainly
no less than we do – to pursue their own goals. In order
to uphold this principle, federal budgets need to account
for the full range of our national capital.
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The federal government has made concerted use of the
budget to promote policies and behaviours that stimulate the creation
of produced capital through measures to enhance innovation and productivity.
It has focused less attention on the equally important opportunities
to use fiscal policy to help maintain the continued productivity
of our natural capital.
This budget submission identifies three groups of
recommendations to ensure that our fiscal policies systematically
integrate environment–economy considerations and explicitly
recognize the role of natural capital in maintaining a prosperous
economy. They are:
- improving the information base on natural capital;
- helping rural and Aboriginal communities protect
natural capital; and
- protecting natural capital in urban communities.
These recommendations reflect the critical
role fiscal policy plays in influencing decision making in Canada.
Their adoption will mark an important step in integrating sustainability
considerations into our fiscal policy; such integration is essential
if the federal government is to promote sustainable development
effectively and consistently.
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Investing
in Canada’s Natural Capital
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