tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55064253579426832552012-01-30T01:01:46.134-05:00Searching for low carbon futures in the great white northJeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-32989443520955688172007-04-17T09:11:00.000-05:002007-04-17T09:14:15.595-05:00

Hello loyal readers,Sorry about the month long hiatus that has no doubt left all of you on tenterhooks. My excuse: once copious free time has been eaten up by various work projects. I will try to start this up again in June or July - meanwhile, the various links on the sidebar should give you endless amounts of sharp, insightful environmental commentary.

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-20113217828605383472007-03-22T21:18:00.000-05:002007-03-22T21:41:53.807-05:00

Today's National Post gives a great analysis of the trials and tribulations of the Clean Air Act over the last few months. According to the article, the Tories are likely to let the Clean Air Act die on the order paper and simply bring out regulations for Large Final Emitters using existing legislation. Article author John Ivison explains that two factors are at work. Firstly, a majority of

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-25538985855819614452007-03-22T21:00:00.000-05:002007-03-22T21:14:51.812-05:00

A pro-international emissions trading piece at globeandmail.com yesterday mentions that Environment Minister John Baird has indicated he is open to including some international trading in his climate change plan. The piece doesn't offer further details, but does provide an overview of emissions trading and the opportunities involved in international trading.Emissions trading: Like foreign aid,

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-77135844924591167972007-03-18T21:59:00.000-05:002007-03-18T22:41:40.424-05:00

Repeat after me - I love minority government. Sure, elections every year or two mean little gets actually done on climate change, but meanwhile the Liberals and Conservatives are one-upping each other to the point where radical environmental proposals transmogrify into mainstream policy!In January, Friends of the Earth and Corporate Knights publicized a proposal to create an emissions tax at 30

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-81468323421364539402007-03-14T21:25:00.000-05:002007-03-14T21:33:27.910-05:00

Tiny story in today's online National Post - the Liberals are supposedly considering absolute targets for large final emitters as part of their election plan, as opposed to the intensity-based targets that the Conservatives (and previous Liberal governments) have been working on.National Post storyMy Comments: I'm very glad to see absolute targets being discussed for emissions trading, and I hope

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-87827878023493008812007-03-11T00:04:00.000-05:002007-03-14T23:08:00.530-05:00

Toronto Dominion Bank released a report on March 7 calling for market based solutions for climate change. You tell 'em, my financially-inclined brethren! The 21-page report, "Market-Based Solutions to Protect the Environment" is 80% introduction to climate change policy options and 20% suggestions for Canada, with a focus on carbon taxes and emissions trading systems (ETS). It doesn't take a

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-6792845293591982432007-03-10T23:42:00.000-05:002007-03-10T23:48:54.043-05:00

Yesterday's Calgary herald also calls the SGER penalty for emissions beyond regulated targets a carbon tax (see last two posts for more on this), and talks briefly about the politics behind it all, federally and provincially:The goal is to paint Harper and Alberta green so the federal Conservatives can go to the polls this spring without having to attack the prime minister's own province. There

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-11877808571448440782007-03-10T23:12:00.000-05:002007-03-10T23:49:27.259-05:00

The Globe and Mail has a story today on Harper and Stelmach's recent announcements re carbon sequestration investments (the CO2 pipeline etc.), but what caught my eye was a reference to "Alberta's new carbon tax". They are referring to the $15.00/tonne charge on emissions beyond the targets included in the new proposed "Specific Gas Emitters Regulation" (SGER - say that ten times real fast).

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-80140939610956531262007-03-09T21:06:00.000-05:002007-03-10T23:50:11.312-05:00

Alberta announced its new (proposed) Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER) yesterday, part of Bill 3, a proposed amendment to the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act. SGER requires facilities that emit more than 100 000 tonnes of GHGs (CO2e?)/year to reduce their emissions intensity by 12% starting July 1 2007, or elsebuy Alberta-based offsetsbuy "emissions performance credits" from

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-67501329745479339942007-03-07T12:33:00.000-05:002007-03-07T12:49:16.735-05:00

Corresponded via email today with Toby Heaps of Corporate Knights re his proposal for meeting Canada's Kyoto targets. Here is what he had to say on capital investment cycles and emissions trading:Given that many of the LFEs need to take capital investment cycles into consideration, do you think that that some of them will not be able to efficiently use the tax taken from them within the 3-year

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-7578496320256218092007-03-05T13:35:00.000-05:002007-03-05T17:09:38.939-05:00

Very pleased to hear some more serious discussion of carbon/GHG taxation in Canada today. CBC's the Current had two pieces on carbon taxes today (see link below to listen), one of which was more or less a debate between Terry Corcoran (Financial Post Editor) and Andrew Van Iterson (Green Budget Coalition). The piece was spurred by last week's news reports that the Liberals were supposedly

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-15159303985053417272007-02-28T22:17:00.000-05:002007-02-28T22:46:46.809-05:00

Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute testified to the Clean Air Act Legislative Committee last week on behalf of Pembina and the Climate Action Network (CAN-RAC). They've published their briefing note on both websites. In a nutshell, it proposes that the forthcoming emissions trading system for big industry use absolute rather than intensity-based targets; set targets at 1990 -6% levels;

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-61933423995140291572007-02-28T17:13:00.000-05:002007-02-28T18:05:41.340-05:00

Friends of the Earth Canada and Corporate Knights released a climate change plan today centred on carbon taxes. It takes the large final emitter carbon tax/carbon subsidy they proposed a month ago and adds a general carbon tax on fuels. Overall cost to an average family - 450-900$/year.Zero Leakage Carbon Investment Fund30$/tonne CO2e tax on LFE emissions (15$/tonne for manufacturing initially,

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-88889640493914342702007-02-28T12:06:00.000-05:002007-02-28T13:21:17.363-05:00

The transcripts are now available for meetings 7 through 10 of the legislative committee on Bill C-30. Here's a summary of meeting 7, which focused on target setting, with much additional discussion on policy. The committee heard from Greenpeace, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), and Dr. Marc Jaccard of SFU. Political

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-34202925085780646072007-02-27T08:41:00.000-05:002007-02-28T22:45:47.655-05:00

The Globe and Mail has been analyzing leaked documents describing the Conservative plan for an emissions trading system for big industry. Basically, it looks like the Liberals' old Large Final Emitters (LFE) system, with slightly tougher targets and of course a brand new name. Unfortunately, this means that most of the flaws of the old LFE system could still be present:intensity targets - the

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-31119987046234505512007-02-19T16:47:00.000-05:002007-02-19T22:24:21.860-05:00

Another freely available policy article from the journal Canadian Public Policy, this time from 1997. University of Guelph prof Ross McKitrick looked at the effects of different options for recycling the revenue from a carbon tax. The conclusion - if you recycle tax revenue the right way, you end up increasing overall welfare and GNP beyond the business-as-usual model, even without taking any

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-22541473509027634752007-02-17T22:19:00.000-05:002007-02-19T15:56:39.615-05:00

Back, back, to the distant first rumblings of interest in carbon taxes...or maybe not that far back. Once the Rio Convention was signed back in 1992, many countries started looking at carbon taxes as one option for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. This article ("Simulating the Distributional Effects of a Canadian Carbon Tax" describes one of Canada's early modelling attempts, done by

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-40394625198097497822007-02-17T14:56:00.000-05:002007-02-19T14:22:07.940-05:00

Gar Lipow, a writer with the online environmental magazine Grist, wrote a good critique of carbon taxes back in November 2006. He basically explains the price inelasticity of energy demand issue in more detail, and argues that carbon taxes aren't as efficient as standards, regulations and public works programs for achieving changes in energy use that require a lot of capital investment. His

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-53644533275556179032007-02-15T11:43:00.000-05:002007-02-15T11:59:54.239-05:00

From the brief submitted by David Boyd to the Bill C30 review committee last week, here are some carbon tax supporters:Al Gore, former Vice-president of the United StatesAlan Greenspan, former Chairman of the U.S. Federal ReserveJoseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner, former Chief Economist at the World BankNicholas Stern, author of the most comprehensive look at the economics of climate change,

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-30255842419102934272007-02-15T10:18:00.000-05:002007-02-15T10:28:36.614-05:00

A brief article in the National Post today on a speech by Alan Greenspan to a group of Toronto business folks...Greenspan is quoted as saying that cap and trade is either ineffective because the target is too high (a la EU system) or if effective, causes costs to rise sharply, knocking out competitivity and creating job loss. Wonder if anyone asked him about carbon taxes?Link to NP articleLink

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-82662871252184544312007-02-14T14:23:00.000-05:002007-02-14T18:05:40.035-05:00

Just read over testimony from the February 6th meeting of the Clean Air Act Committee. The Committee heard from Bill Erasmus (Assembly of First Nations), Claude Villeneuve (Université du Québec À Chicoutimi prof), David R. Boyd (BC prof, author), and Mathieu Castonguay (Association québecoise de la lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique). There was a great deal of discussion on overall

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-3051685584040913972007-02-14T12:50:00.000-05:002007-02-14T13:02:22.294-05:00

From today's National Post, the BC Liberal's throne speech apparently focused on climate change initiatives, including a commitment to build "a sensible, efficient system for registering, trading and purchasing carbon offsets and carbon credits in co-operation with the federal government and the U.S. states of California, Oregon, Alaska and Washington." It isn't clear to me if they are just

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-80289127302962263852007-02-13T16:51:00.000-05:002007-02-12T17:20:59.675-05:00

As reported in the Globe and Mail today, CIBC World Markets' regular Monthly Indicators newsletter includes an article on Canadian emissions trading entitled "Evaluating Carbon Risk in the Canadian Economy". Briefly, they evaluate the vulnerability of Canadian industry sectors to the impacts of a cap and trade emissions trading system, concluding that coal-fired power plants, the oil and gas

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-58857713996766553342007-02-12T16:58:00.000-05:002007-02-11T22:46:55.402-05:00

Just going over the unofficial/unedited transcripts from the C-30 Committee from last week a bit more. Nothing particularly exciting in their first meeting (December 14, 2006) - just a lot of discussion about committee format, etc., with plenty of partisan jockeying for position. In the second meeting (Jan 29), they spent more time trying to set out a schedule for the committee meetings, which

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-34055057470113457662007-02-11T20:19:00.000-05:002007-02-10T21:52:40.746-05:00

A week ago I reviewed an op-ed by the CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, Jack Mintz, arguing against carbon taxes. Today I came across a longer article in Alternatives magazine where Marc Jaccard of Simon Fraser debated the issue with Mintz. I recommend reading the article because its a brief (2 page) summary of the principle arguments and counter-arguments around a carbon tax, by two particularly

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-23882128591948084672007-02-10T21:39:00.000-05:002007-02-08T22:51:04.700-05:00

I've been looking over the unofficial transcripts of Environment Minister John Baird's presentation to the committee on the Clean Air Act (available by request from the Committee secretary - write to CC30@parl.gc.ca). There were a bit more information on the Conservative's plans for GHG emissions trading than was reported in the natonal media. Here's a summary - note that the transcript is

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-52056014487523237042007-02-08T17:10:00.000-05:002007-02-07T23:22:29.521-05:00

Environment Minister Baird gave out more details on the Harper government's plans for industrial GHG emissions today, at a presentation to the House Committee studying the Clean Air Act. Highlights gleaned from the big media outlets:Emissions tradingThe big news - no emissions reductions targets for industry before 2010, but (as suspected), it will involve a carbon permit market. As CANet's

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-89939559728760047352007-02-07T22:50:00.000-05:002007-02-08T21:57:42.243-05:00

So, Sweden's had a carbon tax in place since 1991, at a rate of about $150 US/tonne of CO2. Interestingly, they share some similarities with Canada: large forestry industry, large hydroelectricity capacity, export-driven economy, northern climate with significant heating costs, relatively significant transportation distances for the north. They do have much lower GHG emissions per capita (

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-26214115689377239502007-02-06T17:46:00.000-05:002007-02-06T18:15:30.208-05:00

Just read over a great commentary from the CD Howe Institute, published in 2004: The Morning After: Optimal Greenhouse Gas Policies for Canada's Kyoto Obligations and Beyond. . Its a commentary, so isn't necessarily the opinion of the Institute itself. Basically its a set of alternative policy proposals for achieving GHG reductions by 2010, supported by modelling. Two of the three authors are

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-12196269403321308162007-02-06T12:11:00.000-05:002007-02-06T12:24:03.508-05:00

Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute wrote an op-ed in La Presse Sunday entitled Les changements climatiques: rien a faire? ("Climate change: can nothing be done?"). It critiques the Harper government's assertion that its a "fantasy" to think that Kyoto targets can be achieved without spending billions on Russian hot-air credits. His main points:a) reducing GHGs won't cause economic pain.

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-13355405971465064372007-02-04T20:34:00.000-05:002007-02-05T10:05:15.850-05:00

Good summary of the anti-carbon tax position given in an op-ed piece in the National Post back in June. Boils down to:carbon taxes don't change consumer behaviour that much because energy "essentials" aren't very price sensitivealthough in theory carbon tax revenues could be used to reduce more distortionary taxes, in practice the revenues will end up dedicated to federal climate change programs

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-74581856049811076442007-02-04T15:39:00.000-05:002007-02-05T09:53:26.431-05:00

Just spent some time reviewing the Green Party website. The most relevant public documents are their fall 2006 Green Plan and 2006 policy platform. The two documents make some commitments re emissions trading:increasing emissions targets for large industrial emitters to achieve at least 55 Mt CO2e of reductions above and beyond any other measures.setting absolute targets ("cap and trade")

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-68088860151944313692007-02-03T20:29:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:33:22.995-05:00

The Suzuki foundation released a review of provincial climate change action plans back in October 2006. Here's what they had to say about Quebec's carbon tax:Suzuki foundation calculations show that the tax will end up being approximately 3$ per tonne of CO2eThe Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers claim they will have to pass the cost onto consumers (likely, despite Quebec government

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-81742193363763134642007-02-03T16:32:00.000-05:002007-02-03T16:42:31.236-05:00

From today's National Post. The good news - Alberta says it will set mandatory greenhouse gas emissions targets. The bad news - they will be emissions intensity targets, not absolute targets. As I mentioned earlier today, emissions intensity targets don't guarantee absolute limits to our emissions, just less emissions per unit of GDP/barrel of oil/what have you. The second problem here is the

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-53456087061488982332007-02-03T13:47:00.000-05:002007-02-03T19:36:33.789-05:00

Looks like the Conservatives are poised to resurrect the large final emitters emissions trading scheme. Yesterday, Environment Minister John Baird told reporters that he is preparing to impose emissions intensity targets on industry, apparently "among the most aggressive in the world." The LFE scheme was also based on emissions intensity targets, which, as CANet noted, have a big weakness -

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-17637374753278081732007-02-01T18:04:00.000-05:002007-02-01T18:33:21.721-05:00

The Globe and Mail covers the Liberal's motion yesterday calling on the government to "reconfirm Canada's commitment to honour the principles and targets of the Kyoto Protocol in their entirety". Followed of course by mutual name calling over Liberal inaction and Conservative insincerity. I just hope the public pressure keeps up long enough for the parties to throw up a few real policy

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-87519720884905623382007-02-01T17:12:00.000-05:002007-02-01T18:04:40.820-05:00

Ahh, the good old National Post. Combining the bias of Fox News with the smarmy upper-class smugness of the likes of Conrad Black. Wednesday's coverage of Clean Air Act negotiations by John Ivison discusses a potential liaison between the NDP and the Conservatives to push an improved version of the Act through by March. The article itself covers signs of a rapprochement between the two parties

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-53198497008077438162007-01-31T16:54:00.000-05:002007-01-31T17:05:27.186-05:00

Bit of a sidebar - French environmental group L'Alliance pour le planète is asking people worldwide to shut off all electric appliances for five minutes tomorrow (February 1st) as a symbol of support for action on climate change. The date was chosen because the IPCC's 4th assessment report will be coming out on Friday, February 2nd. Apparently the Eiffel tower will be shut off as well. The

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-34012767992942290672007-01-31T14:10:00.000-05:002007-01-31T14:18:36.901-05:00

A bit more recent here: Climate Action Network Canada (CANet Canada) published a backgrounder with proposed amendments to Bill C-30 (the Clean Air Act) on January 22nd. Lots of points, but sticking for now to carbon taxes and emissions trading - it strongly recommendsA fixed cap on absolute emissions that extends a ‘Kyoto-level’ target to heavy industry for the2008-2012 period9 – i.e. a

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-28370498186338681022007-01-31T13:52:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:34:13.707-05:00

From a Canadian Press article published back in June 2006: "Harper rules out federal carbon tax as a climate change strategy" "The federal government absolutely disagrees with a carbon tax and will not impose it," he said outside a cabinet meeting. "We believe if a carbon tax is effective at all, it will ultimately be effective only because it will raise gas prices on consumers. That's not

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-91668262490029142492007-01-31T13:35:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:34:41.096-05:00

CBC.ca has a backgrounder on the carbon tax concept from August 2006 - responding to Ignatieff's mention of the idea and Quebec's announcement of its carbon tax. The backgrounder covers the basic idea, some pros and cons, and gives examples of current use and proponents.LinkMy comments: An alright introduction to the idea, but it lacks meat and makes some strong unsubstantiated claims - the

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-71067865347290204192007-01-30T15:49:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:35:17.716-05:00

Just looked over Stephane Dion's energy and climate change plan from last fall's Liberal leadership race. He rejects a carbon tax in favour of emissions trading, arguing that a carbon tax a) won't work since fossil fuel prices are already high b) is a flat tax and therefore 'will not inflate with a bull market or recede in times of difficulty' and c) misses out on a key advantage of emissions

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-83127975646337026052007-01-29T19:33:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:35:44.288-05:00

A good 2 page review of the carbon tax concept from the July 3 2006 Vancouver Sun: "Properly Designed Carbon Tax Could Help Canada Battle Global Warming" by Jon Kesselman, a Simon Fraser University prof. Discusses taxing all energy produced in Canada versus taxing only domestically-used energy; the Quebec "carbon tax" (and whether or not its really designed as a carbon tax), using carbon taxes

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506425357942683255.post-24224230985939621642007-01-28T21:53:00.000-05:002007-02-04T15:36:18.322-05:00

Friends of the Earth Canada released a carbon tax proposal for Canadian Large Final Emitters on Thursday Jan 25 - an opinion piece they released detailing the proposal ran in the Montreal Gazette on Jan 27.An interesting point about the proposal - taxes paid by each emitter would go into their own individual trust account. they would then have the chance to spend that money on

Jeff_in_Montrealnoreply@blogger.com0