When The Levy Breaks: Alberta Government Tables The Climate Leadership Implementation Act

On May 24, 2016, Alberta's provincial government tabled Bill 20 for first reading in the legislature. Otherwise known as the Climate Leadership Implementation Act (Climate Act), Bill 20 furthers the implementation of the provincial government's Climate Leadership Plan released in November 2015. As discussed in a previous post, the Climate Leadership Plan identified carbon pricing as the primary policy tool for reducing emissions in the province. While still subject to debate, the new Climate Act proposes to provide the provincial government with a number of powers to enable the imposition of a carbon levy in the province.

Set to come into force on January 1, 2017, the purpose of the Climate Act is to "provide for a carbon levy on consumers of fuel to be effected through a series of payment and remittance obligations that apply to persons throughout the fuel supply chains." The revenues will only be used for (i) initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or more