Category Archives: Climate Change

What Policy Direction should Alberta Follow on Carbon Emissions?

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: What Policy Direction should Alberta Follow on Carbon Emissions?

Matter Commented On: Climate Leadership – Discussion Document (Government of Alberta, August 2015)

Alberta’s Climate Change Advisory Panel is seeking public input on what direction provincial climate change policy should follow going forward. One method of providing your input is to complete an online survey on or before September 18. This is the second part of a two-step process announced by the Minister of Environment and Parks in late June 2015 (see here for the post by my colleague Nigel Bankes on this announcement). To inform this important public dialogue, in August 2015 the Climate Change Advisory Panel published the Climate Leadership – Discussion Document. This 62 page document sets out the overall carbon emissions profile in Alberta (at 9 – 17) and then discusses emissions by individual economic sector and summarizes policy tools that have been used in Alberta and elsewhere to reduce emissions in that sector: oil & gas (at 20 – 26), electricity (at 27 – 34), transportation (at 35 – 40), commercial and residential buildings (at 41 – 46), industrial and manufacturing (at 47 – 51), agriculture, forestry, and waste (at 52 – 56). The Minister’s announcement together with the overall tone and content of the discussion document make it clear the current intensity-based emissions reduction policy implemented by the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, Alta Reg 139/2007 will be replaced on or before the end of 2017. I believe the centrepiece of Alberta’s new direction should be joining the cap-and-trade system currently operating in Quebec and California, along with Ontario which in April 2015 announced its intention to join.

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The SGER Amendments and the New Treatment of Cogeneration

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The SGER Amendments and the New Treatment of Cogeneration

Regulation Commented On: Specified Gas Emitters Amendment Regulation, Alta Reg 104/2015

In a previous post I reported on the Minister’s speech announcing a two-step procedure for developing a new climate change policy for Alberta. The first step involved changes to two of the key variables in the current Specified Gas Emitter Regulation (SGER), Alta Reg 139/2007 while the second step is the more comprehensive review to be conducted by Dr Andrew Leach to assess the full range of options for the management of greenhouse gas emissions in the province. At the time I wrote that post I had not examined the details of the amendments to the SGER to see what other changes (if any) were being proposed. This post picks up where the last left off.

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Province of Alberta Announces a Two-Step Process for Developing a New Climate Change Policy

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Province of Alberta Announces a Two-Step Process for Developing a New Climate Change Policy

Matter Commented On: Minister Shannon Phillips’ Press Conference on Alberta’s climate change strategy, June 25, 2015

A central element of Alberta’s climate change strategy is the Specified Gas Emitter Regulation (SGER), Alta Reg 139/2007. The SGER imposes greenhouse gas emissions intensity reduction obligations (ultimately 12%) on regulated emitters (facilities that emit in excess of 100,000 tonnes of CO2e per year). A facility may achieve compliance in one of four ways: (1) meeting its target by producing its product with lower carbon inputs, (2) Alberta based offset credits (emission reductions over a business as usual scenario achieved by a non-regulated entity in accordance with an approved protocol), (3) emission performance credits (credits achieved by a regulated facility which beats its compliance target), or, (4) contribution of $15 per tonne (for excess emissions over the compliance target) to the Climate Change and Emission Management Fund (the so-called compliance price).

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A Missing Issue in the 2015 Alberta Election: Curbing Carbon Emissions

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: A Missing Issue in the 2015 Alberta Election: Curbing Carbon Emissions

Legislation Commented On: Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, Alta Reg 139/2007

One might think that curbing carbon emissions would be a key topic during an election in the province which emits more carbon emissions than any other jurisdiction in Canada. Carbon emission is after all an inherently political topic these days both at home and abroad. However, the absence of debate on how Alberta should address carbon emissions is one of the more defining features of the 2015 Alberta election. This is particularly noteworthy because of Ontario’s recent announcement that it will join the carbon emissions cap-and-trade scheme operating in Quebec and California under the Western Climate Initiative. Premier Jim Prentice stated that Alberta (see here) will not join this regional scheme, and recent media commentary has expressed concern with this position (see here).

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May Provinces (or States) Limit Imports on the Basis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Elsewhere?

By: James Coleman & Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: May Provinces (or States) Limit Imports on the Basis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Elsewhere?

Report Commented On: Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, The Way Forward

Last week, a group of economists known as “Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission” issued a much-discussed report that urged Canada’s individual provinces to drive Canadian climate policy by adopting their own carbon pricing schemes. But the report barely touched on one of the key challenges for provincial or state regulation without the support of the national government: what may places that price carbon do to avoid losing industry to places that don’t?

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