Ontario to Join North American Carbon Market

Ontario to Join North American Carbon Market

We have, ever since we began posting our comments in this blog, back in September 2012, concerned ourselves with the conflictive nexus between Trade and Sustainable Development. We have dealt in this blog with the Carbon Footprint of both products and processes, we have commented on the new regulations regarding GHG aviation emissions in the EU, and CO2 emissions in shipping the world over. We have also discussed in more than one presentation, the concept and the practical aspects of  Carbon Border Adjustment.

The North American Carbon Market is worth the attention of all those who are concerned about Sustainable Development, but also about Trade, and with finding ways towards win-win solutions directed at reducing GHG emissions, as in the case presented here, by 2020.

So here is the first part of the report.

Mauricio López Dardaine

SOURCE: BRIDGES from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Final del formulario

Trade news from a sustainable development perspective

16 April 2015

The Canadian province of Ontario unveiled plans on Monday to join California and Quebec’s cap-and-trade system under the so-called Western Climate Initiative, in a bid to curb climate warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Further details around permit prices and implementation timing will be finalised in the coming months, according to media reports.

“Climate change needs to be fought around the globe, and it needs to be fought here in Canada and Ontario,” said Kathleen Wynne, Ontario’s premier, in a press release. Wynne added that the move would also help to secure a more competitive economy.

Cap-and-trade programmes work by setting a limit on emissions and issuing permits to covered industries in line with this mitigation target. Companies can then buy and sell these permits according to their relative mitigation efforts. In theory, this will lead to cost-effective emissions reductions, as firms with relatively low abatement costs will reduce emissions and sell surplus permits to firms with higher reduction costs.

The Western Climate Initiative (WCI) is a collaborative sub-national effort between seven US states and four Canadian provinces to implement emissions-reduction measures. The group has a regional GHG target of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and aims to achieve many of these reductions through its cap-and-trade programme.

With the addition of Ontario, Canada’s second largest provincial GHG emitter, WCI’s carbon market would cover some 61 million people. 

California and Quebec linked their emissions trading schemes last year, in a world first, and the inclusion of the transport sector in this scheme from January, makes it the world’s third largest carbon market.

We here would like to add this information from a publication by Canada's IISD -International Institute for Sustainable Development- in order to help complement the above report. Source's title: "TomorrowNow- Manitoba’s Green Plan: Toward a New Provincial Climate Change and Green Economy" 
Plan Consultations Background Paper"

CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES IMPLEMENTED IN JURISDICTIONS OF CANADA [Other than Manitoba]

Jurisdiction	Actions	Year implemented
Canada - Federal Government	Regulations for both heavy-duty and light-duty vehicle tailpipe emissions	2012
Canada - Federal Government	Coal-fired electricity sector regulations	2012
Canada - Federal Government	Negotiations with oil and gas and other industrial sectors	Ongoing
Québec	New climate change action plan and adaptation strategy	2012–2020
Québec	Launched first joint emissions trading with California	2014
Québec	First auction of its cap and trade system	2013
British Columbia	Review of Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax completed; tax retained at $30 per tonne	2013
Nova Scotia	Finalized federal equivalency agreement for electricity sector GHG regulations	2012
Ontario	Released a climate change progress report and a report from the environmental commissioner	2013

Owing to some thechnical difficulties we are only now completing the list of climate change policies implemented in jurisdictions of Canada, according to the abovementioned source. See right here bellow.

Ontario	Released a climate change progress report and a report from the environmental commissioner		2013
	Emissions mitigation discussion paper	2013
	Phase out of coal-fired power	Completed in 2014
Newfoundland & Labrador  and  Nova Scotia	Finalized hydroelectric link		2012
Alberta	Policy review of the Specified Gas Emitter Regulation		Deadline extended to  June 2015