In January 2010 British Columbia’s first mandatory GHG reporting regulation came into force. The Reporting Regulation specified that operations located in British Columbia and emitting 10,000 tonnes or more of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) per year (excluding emissions from biomass listed in Schedule C of the regulation) are required to report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (while reporting operations emitting 25,000 tonnes or more of CO2e per year have also been subject to a third party verification requirement).
As part of efforts to re-orient BC’s GHG regime and establish a framework for the developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, the BC government passed the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act (the Act), which came into force on January 1, 2016. The Act introduces as part of the reporting performance standards that are set for industrial facilities or sectors by listing them within a Schedule to the Act. Currently, the Schedule sets GHG emissions benchmark for LNG facilities and includes an emissions benchmark for coal-based electricity generation operations. It is anticipated that other industrial facilities and sectors will be added later. The Act also streamlines several aspects of existing GHG legislation and regulation into a single legislative and regulatory system, including the GHG reporting framework established under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap and Trade) Act. Notably, three regulations necessary to implement the Act also came into effect on January 1, 2016:
- Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulation – this regulation replaces the existing industrial Reporting Regulation and adds compliance reporting requirements.
- Greenhouse Gas Emission Administrative Penalties and Appeals Regulation – this regulation establishes the process for when, how much, and under what conditions administrative penalties may be levied for non-compliance with the act or regulations.
- Greenhouse Gas Emission Control Regulation – this regulation establishes the BC Carbon Registry and sets criteria for developing emission offsets issued by the BC government. The regulation also establishes a price of $25 for funded units issued under the Act that would go towards a technology fund to support the development of clean technologies. Regulated operations will need to purchase offsets from the market or funded units from government in order to meet their compliance obligations.
Under the new Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulation, industrial operations will continue to report GHG emissions as they have since 2010.