Weekly Briefing: Canada Clarifies Its Carbon Dividend With New Name
February 21, 2024
Canada’s federal government just announced a welcome update to its carbon fee and dividend policy. 
The carbon cashback payments, which eligible Canadians have been receiving since 2018, used to be called “Climate Action Incentive Payments.” But polling shows that about a quarter of Canadians eligible for rebates don't believe they actually receive them. That perception gap has contributed to a recently declining public opinion of the policy.
So last October, CCL Canada met with lawmakers to lobby for more clarity. Our Canadian volunteers asked lawmakers to change the name of the dividends to something clearer and to make the payments more obvious on Canadians’ bank statements.
Now, those changes have been made and announced! According to this news release from the federal government, the dividend will now be labeled “Canada Carbon Rebate.” This name change will help “clarify its function, and make its meaning and relationship to the carbon pricing system more intuitive for Canadians.”
“The Canada Carbon Rebate puts more money in your pocket every three months. It was created to make big polluters pay and give that money back to Canadian families. And it's working,” says Minister of Labour and Seniors, Seamus O’Regan. “This is how we're making life more affordable and cleaning the air we breathe.”
Let’s build more support for this type of policy here in America! Share this explainer video about carbon fee and dividend on any social media platform or via email with friends, family, and other people in your life who want to stop pollution from overheating our planet.
In other news this week:
• Young conservatives support clean energy: American Conservation Coalition published new polling of conservative voters ages 18-35, finding that most understand climate change is happening and is caused by human activity. The report also finds that more than 7 in 10 young conservatives support shifting toward clean energy. Check out all the new findings in ACC’s report.
• Upcoming conferences: The first of our regional conferences kicks off this weekend in the Mid-Atlantic, and registration is already open for events in the Northeast, Mountain West, California, and the Southeast in the coming weeks. Our right-of-center volunteers are invited to the Conservative Climate Leadership Conference & Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. next month. We’re excited to see you at one of these events!
• Spanish language info session next week: CCL offers a weekly informational session for new volunteers, and quarterly, we offer that same session in Spanish. Feb. 27 is our next Spanish-language session. Register or share the event details with anyone who might be interested.
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Ask Congress to protect climate-smart funding in the new Farm Bill. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allocated $20 billion in aid for climate-smart practices that help farmers and forest-owners store more carbon pollution in trees. But that funding is at risk of being reallocated when the Farm Bill is renegotiated this year. Send a quick email to ask your members of Congress to protect these climate-smart investments! We’re 8,772 messages toward our goal of 10,000, so send yours today.
If you have more time: Plan a March in-district drop-off. Your members of Congress (MOCs) will be working in their district/state offices during the last week of March and first week of April. Keep climate change high on their radar by dropping off material that shows climate action has strong support in your area! One option is to gather and plan to drop off Constituent Letters like the one pictured above, available on CCL Community. Find more drop-off ideas in our February Action Sheet.
Featured chapter: CCL Anchorage
“Our weekly Climate Project Collaboration is easily the best thing we do consistently as a chapter,” says George Donart, leader of CCL’s Anchorage chapter. Every Tuesday morning, the chapter meets on Zoom to collaborate on projects, identify volunteers for specific tasks, and share ideas for new efforts.
“Attendance has been very consistent, and we have gotten a lot done,” George says. Thanks to the consistent meeting schedule and clear action items emailed out after each meeting, the chapter members “feel supported and willing to initiate and follow through on their ventures.”
And follow through, they have! Within the last four months, the Anchorage chapter has organized a local film festival, tabled at Wild Salmon Day, planned in-state and virtual lobby meetings with their members of Congress, participated in Environmental Voter Project trainings, published climate-focused articles in collaboration with local Olympians, successfully advocated for their electric coop to champion a Renewable Portfolio Standard bill in the state legislature — and the list goes on. (George is pictured above, right, at a past community presentation.)
This effort has made the chapter highly productive, and it’s building their relationships, too. “Trust and friendships are blooming — a great relief from the Covid isolation,” George says. “Though we have been meeting online, we are going to start meeting in person from time to time. It's fun to be together.” Amazing work, CCL Anchorage!
Have you logged your recent activities in the Action Tracker? Tell us what your chapter has been up to lately!
Action Tracker Want your chapter to be featured? Share your info and photos with us.
Upcoming trainings
2/22: Crafting Impactful Conservative Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor - Attend this panel discussion to learn how to write and place climate pieces in conservative areas. The discussion will be moderated by CCL State and Local Media Coordinator, Charlotte Ward, and will feature panelists from RepublicEN, American Conservation Coalition, and The Invading Sea. Join us!
2/29: New Research on the Benefits from the BIG WIRES Act - Researchers from MIT recently published a paper detailing all of the great benefits that would come from passing the BIG WIRES Act, and researchers from Vanderbilt published a study about the big role household electrification and efficiency will play in realizing the Inflation Reduction Act's climate pollution reductions potential. CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli will summarize all of this new info. Join us!
Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:
2/27: Economics of Carbon Fee & Dividend Policies - Join CCL leader and economist Paul Bernstein for a webinar on new ways of thinking about the key components of any carbon fee and dividend policy, including the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Join us!
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
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