Canada Provincial Carbon Regimes: A Mixed Bag To Fight Climate Change¹

In this article, we provide a high level summary of salient aspects Provincial carbon regimes in Canada. Our goal is to establish a baseline for readers outlining the different Canadian carbon pricing regimes for further consideration in subsequent pieces. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive piece of work on the current legislation in each Province addressing climate change, rather this short article is intended as a survey of certain carbon financing regimes now in effect across each Province.

Each Province's journey started when the Government of Canada published the Pan-Canadian Approach to Pricing Carbon Pollution (the Federal "Benchmark") stating that the OBPS would be used as a backstop by any Provinces or Territories that so requested or failed to put in place a system that met the Benchmark.