Today, Premier Wynne announced that Ontario is finally going
ahead to implement a cap and trade system for carbon emissions, in
cooperation with Quebec and perhaps California. Ontario originally
promised to join Quebec, California and others in the Western Climate
Initiative in 2008, but has since fallen behind. Since
December, the WCI has conducted two auctions of emission permits,
and the third auction is scheduled for May 2015.
In 2009, Ontario put authority for a WCI-style carbon cap and
trade system into the
Environmental Protection Act. Under that Act,
the money from selling carbon permits must be segregated from
general government revenue, and must be used only for greenhouse
gas reduction efforts and for running the system itself. Now, six
years later, Ontario has decided to use that authority to
fight climate
change, instead of a British Columbia style carbon tax. To
understand the difference, click here
or
here.
