Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy – Prime Minister of Canada

Published

2 years ago

November 20, 2022

Harry Miller

November 20, 2022
Bangkok, Thailand

Recalling the Putrajaya Vision 2040, APEC reiterates our commitment to pursuing strong, balanced, secure, sustainable and inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
APEC is determined to continue advancing its sustainability objectives in a bold, responsive, and comprehensive manner to address the heightened economic and environmental challenges and disruptions facing the region, building on our commitments in the Putrajaya Vision 2040 and the actions set out in the Aotearoa Plan of Action (APA), for the prosperity of all our people and future generations.
By adopting the Bangkok Goals, APEC moves forward with outlining how to achieve its comprehensive and ambitious sustainability and inclusion objectives, while reinforcing and contributing to ongoing global actions. APEC explored approaches such as the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy model that integrates three economic approaches, where technology and innovation are used to create value, reduce waste, advance resource efficiency, and promote sustainable business models. It also calls for more holistic efforts to achieve more balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth. Such efforts should build on APEC’s existing commitments and workstreams as well as consider new aspirational ones to further APEC’s sustainability objectives.
APEC will marshal existing targets and workstreams in conjunction with the following goals, key areas and aspirational targets:
1. Supporting global efforts to comprehensively address all environmental challenges, including climate change, extreme weather and natural disasters, for a sustainable planet, particularly in terms of climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience by:
  1. Contributing practical, ambitious and concrete initiatives to transition to a climate-resilient future global economy which align with global efforts, such as the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the goals of the Paris Agreement, as well as appreciating and supporting APEC members’ respective net zero / carbon neutrality commitments, recognising the urgent need to collectively address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the need to provide international support including capacity building, technological and financial support, which are key enablers in this regard;
  2. Enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change and associated risks, including through mainstreaming adaptation measures into policies, strategies and planning, as well as disaster and emergency preparedness and management;
  3. Strengthening cooperation to develop and exchange policies and best practices, and promote capacity building and awareness-raising programmes that address all environmental and climate challenges, and support sustainable growth;
  4. Ensuring diversity and inclusion in our collective efforts to address climate change;
  5. Advancing the transition to clean and low-carbon energy through various pathways reflecting the different circumstances in each economy, strengthening energy resilience, promoting energy security, and ensuring affordable and reliable energy access, including by fostering technical collaboration and exchange of best practices and experiences. We acknowledge the importance of stable energy markets and clean energy transitions. Noting the progress made to date, APEC economies are discussing goals for further strengthening the region’s capacity to adopt renewable energy and other clean and low-emissions energy technologies;
  6. Recalling our commitment to rationalise and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption while recognising the importance of providing those in need with essential energy services, and, to reach this goal, continuing efforts in an accelerated manner;
  7. Promoting sustainable, resilient, productive, and inclusive food systems and agricultural practices, achieving food security and nutrition, reducing food loss and waste, including through encouraging environmentally-friendly policies and minimising environmentally-harmful ones, conserving agrobiodiversity, and enhancing the use of agricultural biotechnology, digitalisation and other innovative approaches;
  8. Promoting research, development and deployment of cost-effective low and zero emissions technologies, acknowledging that there are a variety of technologies and approaches available;
  9. Supporting finance and investments in sustainability and climate action, including disaster risk finance insurance, and, if appropriate, carbon pricing and non-pricing mechanisms and international carbon credit markets, as well as exploring options to support the alignment of financial flows towards a greener and cleaner global economy, for example taxonomies and other alignment approaches.
2. Progressing sustainable and inclusive trade and investment and ensuring that they are mutually supportive with our environmental policies by:
  1. Intensifying work that enhances stability, resilience and sustainability of supply chains, as well as improves connectivity, including through the implementation of the APEC Connectivity Blueprint and advancing cooperation and sharing best practices on green public procurement;
  2. Advancing work on the facilitation of trade in environmental goods and services, building on discussion about the APEC List of Environmental Goods and the Reference List of Environmental and Environmentally Related Services and further discussing the impact of non-tariff measures on trade in environmental goods;
  3. Advancing concrete initiatives on responsible business conduct, environment, social and governance (ESG) industry practices, for example through the development of sustainable tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, transport and logistics sectors, as well as the green and low-carbon digital and technology sectors;
  4. Advancing gender equality and economic integration, inclusion and empowerment of women;
  5. Strengthening the roles of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including encouraging the formulation of an updated APEC Strategy for Green, Sustainable and Innovative MSMEs, building capabilities for MSMEs in sustainability practices such as the ESG and BCG approaches, and collaborating to improve opportunities for MSMEs to be competitive, specialised, innovative and expand into international markets.
3. Promoting environmental conservation, sustainable use and management of natural resources, as well as halting and reversing biodiversity loss by:
  1. Enhancing conservation and sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources and ecosystems as well as sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, including preventing, combatting and working towards ending illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and implementing the APEC Roadmap on Combatting IUU Fishing;
  2. Continuing work to prevent and reduce marine debris and plastic pollution, including through the implementation of the APEC Roadmap on Marine Debris;
  3. Strengthening efforts to combat illegal logging and associated trade, stop the degradation of forest ecosystems, and promote trade and consumption in sustainably managed and legally harvested forest products;
  4. Striving to ensure diversity and inclusion to improve our efforts in maintaining, conserving, managing and protecting the environment and natural resources.
4. Advancing resource efficiency and sustainable waste management towards zero waste by:
  1. Increasing cooperation to advance circular economy approaches, including through promoting circular business models as well as exchange policies and best practices, and sustainable production and consumption patterns.
To achieve the above and the three economic drivers of the Putrajaya Vision 2040 requires the adoption of an inclusive approach that improves the quality of life for all members of society and advances gender equality as well as economic inclusion and empowerment of MSMEs, women, and other groups with untapped economic potential, such as Indigenous Peoples as appropriate, people with disabilities, and those from remote and rural communities, while also promoting the role of youth. Further, there is a need for stronger whole-of-society partnerships and whole-of-system approaches within APEC, particularly across all fora and sub-fora in order to deliver comprehensive, coherent and mutually-reinforcing outcomes.
The following enablers should be accelerated through relevant APEC mechanisms:
1. Conducive and agile regulatory frameworks and enabling business environment, including through structural reform, good regulatory practices and international regulatory cooperation, particularly advancing the implementation of the Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform (EAASR) and taking into account the findings and recommendations of the 2022 APEC Economic Policy Report (AEPR) on Structural Reform and a Green Recovery from Economic Shocks and other relevant AEPRs to inform policies and approaches.
2. Capacity building by deepening economic and technical cooperation, exchange of experiences and best practices to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, voluntary technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, as well as inclusive human resource development, especially reskilling and upskilling to boost recruitment, retention and promotion of a diverse workforce.
3. Enabling environment for the development of quality infrastructure, financing and investment, as well as further leveraging science, technology, innovation and digitalisation.
4. Networks for collaboration among public sector, private sector, financial sector, academia, other international and regional organisations, other relevant stakeholders, as well as mechanisms within and related to APEC, including ABAC, the APEC Study Centers Consortium, and APEC permanent observers namely ASEAN, PECC, and PIF.
The APEC Committees and relevant sub-fora will integrate and advance the above agenda in their respective strategies and work plans, where appropriate, as well as to deepen cross-fora collaboration. The APEC Secretariat will maintain an evergreen compendium of the actions and initiatives taken and to provide regular updates to Senior Officials as the means to review our progress to contribute to and in accordance with the APA review process. Senior Officials will have the overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluating progress under the Bangkok Goals on BCG Economy. The furtherance of the sustainability agenda in a comprehensive and ambitious manner will support APEC’s growth trajectory towards a strong, balanced, secure, sustainable and inclusive future.

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Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady at 6.5% in October, economy adds 15,000 jobs

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.

Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.

Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.

Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.

Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.

Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.

Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.

According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.

That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.

People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.

That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.

Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.

That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Health-care spending expected to outpace economy and reach $372 billion in 2024: CIHI

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.

The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.

CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.

This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.

While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.

Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.

The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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Economy

Trump’s victory sparks concerns over ripple effect on Canadian economy

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.

Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.

A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.

More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.

Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.

“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.

“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”

American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.

It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.

“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.

“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”

A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.

Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.

“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.

Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”

“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.

“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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