Who leads and who lags in the world of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions?
British Columbia has been internationally recognized for our approach to carbon pricing and the historical success that North America’s first broad-based revenue-neutral carbon tax has had on provincial emissions. From the time that the tax was introduced in 2008 until it was frozen in 2013, emissions declined while our economy and economic diversity grew.
While some would argue that GDP growth happened in spite of the tax, the fact that the carbon tax revenue is returned to the taxpayer through income tax reductions, tax credits and transfers to vulnerable populations has contributed to its recognition and reputation.
A cautionary note must also be heeded with regard to the lauded revenue-neutral structure. As taxes are applied to the unwanted carbon dioxide and the sought-after behaviour of decreasing carbon generation is achieved, a consequence is the potential of decreasing tax revenues. In B.C., tax revenues returned to the taxpayer this fiscal year are forecasted to exceed carbon tax revenues by $360 million. Increasing other taxes to make up that shortfall is never a particularly popular option.
In 2013, the carbon tax was frozen until 2018, and over that time, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have started to creep up again, in part because of population growth, since we all have a carbon footprint.
Broadly speaking, here in British Columbia, 40 per cent of our emissions come from transportation, 20 per cent from the built environment (including solid waste), and 40 per cent from forestry, mining, agriculture, and energy.
What doesn’t figure prominently in our GHG production figures are emissions resulting from base load electrical production because we already have a clean energy system. Ontario’s installed generation capacity includes nuclear, hydro, and gas, some wind, and soon a little solar production. Alberta has announced that within 15 years, it will transition away from coal in favor of 70 per cent natural gas and 30 per cent renewable energy.
British Columbia’s grid is already 97 per cent renewable energy. Nuclear and coal are prohibited for electrical production, and natural gas likely has only a small short-term future in providing a backup base load to renewable energy in remote, non-grid-connected communities that comprise the remaining three per cent.
From some of the province’s first small renewable energy projects such as the Soo or Brandywine to the newest projects coming on line in 2016/17 such as Culliton Creek or the Upper Lillooet, the Sea to Sky is a major clean-energy contributor to the provincial system. BC Hydro’s heritage Daisy Lake reservoir and the Cheakamus generating station have the largest firm capacity in the region at 158 MW and act as a “battery” to stabilize the otherwise intermittent production of the significant renewable energy production in the Sea to Sky.
Be it with hydro, solar, geothermal or wind, BC Hydro’s 1-15 MW standing offer program together with the new 100kw-1 MW micro standing offer and the Net Metering programs together allow everyone including communities and individuals an opportunity to contribute to our clean-energy grid. B.C. is a leader in clean energy and broad-based carbon taxes and has set a standard that will be difficult for any other jurisdiction to match.
