Environment minister mum on changes to carbon levy
CALGARY — The NDP government will keep Alberta’s existing carbon levy system in place for now, but bigger changes are coming down the road ahead of November’s international conference on climate change in Paris, Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said Tuesday.
Attending a meeting of provincial environment ministers in Winnipeg, Phillips confirmed regulations setting a levy on large industrial emitters of greenhouse gas emissions will be renewed at the end of the month, when they were set to expire.
An announcement by the province is expected later this week.
However, Phillips did not say whether there would be changes to the current $15-a-tonne rate at which the carbon levy is set, or the targets, which require facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to cut emissions intensity by 12 per cent below a baseline.
“We are renewing the regulations before they expire at the end of June and will be unveiling the plan that moves forward on how we are going to involve Albertans and industry, environmental groups and others ... on how we structure our climate-change strategy in the weeks and months coming up to Paris,” Phillips said in Winnipeg.
The new environment minister said the NDP government — elected last month with a pledge to toughen up Alberta’s environmental standards — is still consulting with industries “over the coming weeks on exactly what our framework looks like.”
Alberta’s oilsands have become a target for environmentalists because of their significant carbon footprint, stalling pipeline projects intended to open new markets for the province’s crude. Growing emissions from the energy sector make it likely Canada will miss its international climate-change commitments. According to federal data, Alberta’s emissions have risen 53 per cent since 1990, due in part to rising petroleum production.
Greg Stringham, vicepresident with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the government has held discussions with the industry, but it’s unclear how the NDP will proceed in the short or long term.
Evan Bahry, executive director of the Independent Power Producers Association of America, said there are concerns about potential changes to the levy, especially with the government also considering the possibility of an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation in the province.