BY THE NUMBERS: NEW GHG RULES

The Alberta government updated its 2007 Specified Gas Emitters Regulations ( SGERs) on Thursday as an initial step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change.

Here are the regulations by the numbers: The levy: Applies to facilities which emit 100,000 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year — about 45 per cent of provincial emissions. They must lower emissions 12 per cent for each unit of production from a 2005 baseline or pay a $ 15 a tonne fee. That will increase to 15 per cent and $ 20 a tonne on Jan. 1., and then to 20 per cent and $ 30 on Jan. 1, 2017. Big emitters: The 103 facilities covered by SGERs emitted 135.5 million tons of CO2/ e in 2014. That included almost 41 million tonnes from seven coal- fired power plants, 30.5 million from five oilsands upgraders and 28.5 million from 17 in situ oilsands facilities. The smallest emitter in the group was the West Edmonton landfill at 111,510 tonnes. Buying credits: Actual avoided emissions in Alberta from 2007 to 2014 totalled 36.85 million tonnes as large industrial emitters paid $ 577.9 million into a technology fund to purchase 24.34 million tonnes of offset credits. A total of $ 350 million from that fund has been invested in projects that are forecast to eliminate more than 11 million tonnes of projected emissions by 2020. Higher costs: Government forecasts the higher levy will add 30 to 45 cents per barrel of bitumen produced in the oilsands and $ 3.60 cents per megawatt to coal- fired electricity. The “tax” on each tonne of CO2/ e emissions is effectively rising from a $ 1.80 to $ 6 a tonne. British Columbia has a $ 30- a- tonne carbon tax. Less is more: Canada pledged to cut GHGs by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 but is only forecast to be 1.2 per cent below 2005 levels by then. Alberta has more emissions than any province — 64 tonnes of CO2/ e per capita per year — and the higher levy is forecast to cut 5 million tonnes of emissions from the businessas- usual scenario by 2017. Target practice: Alberta accounted for 35.6 per cent of Canada’s GHGs in 2012 and emissions are forecast to grow to 287 million tonnes by 2020. It has a target to reduce emissions by 50 million tonnes from the “business as usual” scenario by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2050 and the government has appointed a task force to assess the further measures needed to reach those goals.