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In Canada, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to remain high despite the federal government's commitment to reduce GHG emissions. Environmental policy across Canadian provinces has largely lacked consistency with some provinces implementing targeted policy such as carbon taxes while others have strongly resisted the federal government's attempts to encourage such policy. This study examines the impact of environmental policy on GHG gas emissions across Canadian provinces with policy uniquely measured by public and business sector spending on environmental protection as well as notable province-specific policies. An extended STIRPAT model is specified with the inclusion of proxies for environmental policy using panel data from Canada's ten provinces from 1995 to 2019. The cointegration and the error correction modelling approaches are employed to estimate the non-stationary panel data. A pooled mean group estimation is applied to provide short run and long run coefficients. The findings indicate that although per capita GDP is the main driver of GHG emissions in Canada, environmental policy has a significant mitigating effect, as shown by the negative association between emissions and private and public sector spending on environmental protection in the long run. Furthermore, provinces with targeted policies, such as Ontario's coal phase-out and British Columbia's carbon tax, experienced significant emissions reductions. The theoretical implication is the successful addition of policy variables to the STIRPAT model, providing the model a new application for future research. [Display omitted] • Assess the impact of environmental protection policies on per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. • Utilize public and private expenditures on environmental protection, along with provincial policies. • Extend the STIRPAT model to incorporate environmental protection policies in an empirical model. • Demonstrate a significant negative relationship between environmental protection policies and GHG emissions. • Offer insights with implications for global environmental sustainability efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that Harper's dramatic changes to federal environmental assessment give rise to a two-dimensional legacy in environmental law: first, a legacy of impoverished environmental decision-making that reflects a narrow, resource-oriented vision of the environment, and second, a legacy of undermining democratic and rule-of-law values in environmental law. The crux of this latter legacy is the argumentthat environmental assessment law provides an essential framework for publicly-justified decision-making in the Canadian environmental context. Indeed, as I suggest in this article, environmental assessment presently performs a quasi-constitutional role in Canadian environmental decision-making in the sense that it is constitutive of legality; that is, it provides the means by which the federal government fulfills its obligation to govern the environment in accordance with the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have proven effective at raising consumer awareness, expanding waste collection infrastructure, and shifting costs of end-of-life (EOL) management from municipalities to stewardship organizations. Yet, such policies have been less successful in advancing waste management programs that ensure a net environmental benefit. This article analyzes how EPR policies for single-use batteries in the European Union (EU), Canada, and the United States address the environmental costs and benefits of EOL management. Considering these EPR policies is instructive, because single-use batteries have high collection costs and are of relatively low economic value for waste processors. Without deliberate planning, the environmental burdens of collecting and recycling such batteries may exceed the benefits. This article considers how EPR policies for single-use batteries integrate performance requirements such as collection rates, recycling efficiencies, and best available techniques. It argues that for such policies to be effective, they need to be extended to address waste collection practices, the life cycle consequences of EOL management, and the quality of recovered materials. Such strategies are relevant to EPR policies for other products with marginal secondary value, including some textiles, plastics, and other types of electronic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers science news briefs as of February 16, 2018. Topics include the development of immature human egg cells in the laboratory reported online in the "Molecular Human Reproduction" journal, the dismissal of astrophysicist Christian Ott before his position start at the University of Turku's Tuorla Observatory in Finland amid protest, and a revised process for environmental impact assessment fo development projects released by the Canadian government.

This paper examines two fundamental and inter-related tensions relating to environmental assessment between the desire to be proactive, promoting sustainable development and the more traditional practice of preventing harm, as well as the need to balance a predictable, expeditious and efficient process with transparency and inclusive deliberation. Proposed reforms to the environmental assessment process in Ontario, Canada, are examined as a case in point, showing how the recommendations in Ontario are consistent with international trends. In particular, over-arching principles need to be embedded in more precise sector-specific policies to enable environmental assessment processes to meet these competing goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions from agriculture to the atmosphere, along with emissions of other pollutants from a variety of sources, are of concern to agriculture worldwide. National emissions from agricultural sources in Canada are linked to domestic consumption and export demand for agricultural products. The onus to limit emissions is often directed to the producers, but the marketplace and consumer are also responsible for the environmental impact of their choices. This objective of this study was to quantitatively link agricultural NH 3 emissions to per person consumption of food and protein and to agricultural exports from Canada. There are substantial differences in the NH 3 emissions per unit consumed protein among the various food types. As a result, shifts in the Canadian diet have had a large impact on relative per person NH 3 emissions. From 1981 to 2006, the total per person protein intake in the Canadian diet increased about 5%, but NH 3 emission related to that diet decreased 20%. This is largely related to consumption of less beef, which has a high emission per unit of meat or protein, and more poultry and cereals which have much lower emissions. Although these changes in diet were not because of environmental concerns by the consumers, they had substantial effects on national-level emissions. These consumer driven effects may well exceed the possible effects of best management practices intended to address NH 3 emissions at the producer level. Note that the Canadian population has increased 50% from 1981 to 2006 and meat and egg exports increased 570%, so that total emissions from food production in Canada have increased. Our results imply there will be further effects on national NH 3 emissions because of dietary and export drivers that are generally outside the scope of agro-environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]