Robert Smith is an Associate for IISD assisting with its work in measurement and knowledge management.
He has over 20 years’ expertise in environment-economy statistics, energy and climate change, sustainable development, natural capital and national accounting. At the outset of his career, Robert worked in various analyst positions in the National Accounts and Environment Division, Statistics Canada and, after a series of promotions, served for ten years as Director (EX-2) of the Environmental Accounts and Statistics Division, Statistics Canada. He was also assigned, through a Government of Canada Fellows Program, to the position of Director of Network Transformation for Telus Communications, where he streamlined contract solicitation processes and introduced environmental sustainability goals in Telus’ data centre design and operations.
All Publications
- Canadians Deserve Decision-Making Based on More than GDP
Blog - February 19, 2019
If Canadians (or citizens anywhere) want well-being to continue for their children and grandchildren, the country’s comprehensive wealth must be sustained. - Comprehensive Wealth in Canada 2018 – Measuring What Matters in the Long Term
Report - October 26, 2018
Comprehensive wealth measures the country’s produced, natural, human, financial and social capital. - Estimating Employment Effects of the Circular Economy
Briefing Note - September 19, 2018
This note summarizes some of the definitions of the term "circular economy" and the baselines that have been used for projections on job impacts and growth. - Cost of Pollution: Extreme Weather
Video - June 2, 2017
Did you know that the cost of climate change-related heat waves in Canada is estimated to have been $1.6 billion in 2015? - Cost of Pollution: Contaminated Sites
Video - June 2, 2017
Did you know that average annual cost of managing contaminated sites under federal jurisdiction in Canada was $283 million between 2005/06 and 2014/15? - Cost of Pollution: Persistent Organic Pollutants
Video - June 2, 2017
Did you know that the cost of persistent organic pollutants to Canada is estimated to be in the billions, but we still don't know for sure? - Cost of Pollution: Smog
Video - June 2, 2017
Did you know that smog cost Canada $36 billion in 2015? - Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments
Report - June 1, 2017
Pollution costs Canadian families, businesses and governments a startling amount every year. These costs add up to tens of billions of dollars at least. These are our findings from a new report on the cost of pollution in Canada. - Comprehensive Wealth in Canada: IISD's report launch
Video - February 22, 2017
On December 1, 2016, IISD publicly released a report on measuring Comprehensive Wealth, an innovative approach, never before undertaken in Canada, to measuring wealth that looks beyond merely GDP. - Raisons pour lesquelles nous devrions nous inquiéter à propos de la richesse du Canada
Blog - February 7, 2017
In a French-language blog post, Scott Vaughan and Robert Smith explain why we need to reconsider how we measure wealth in Canada. - Comprehensive Wealth in Canada—Measuring what matters in the long run
Report - November 30, 2016
This report seeks to introduce the concept of comprehensive wealth to Canadians and outline why it should be considered an essential complement to the other measures such as gross domestic product. - Why We Don't Really Measure Natural Capital but Really Should
Paper - December 14, 2013
This policy brief discusses the critical importance of shifting the focus of economic measurement from GDP alone to a broader measure based on the...