Canada – GHG Accounting

A Closer Look at the Canadian Federal Carbon Pricing Backstop

In October 2016, the federal government announced plans for a pan-Canadian carbon price, which represents a pricing benchmark and central component of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (the Framework, released in December 2016). Under the Framework, each province and territory will be required to implement a carbon price starting at $10 per tonne of CO₂e in 2018 (eventually rising to $50 per tonne by 2022), either in the form of direct pricing or a cap and trade program. The benchmark provides for a federal carbon pricing backstop system that will apply in any province or territory that does not have a carbon pricing system in place by 2018 that aligns with the benchmark. The Technical Paper sets out the proposed design principles of the federal carbon pricing backstop.

Backstop Instrument

The federal government is planning to introduce new legislation and regulations to implement the carbon pricing backstop that will be applied in jurisdictions which do not have carbon pricing systems in place that meet the requirements of the federal system. In particular, all elements of the backstop will apply in each jurisdiction that does not have a carbon pricing system in place. It should be noted that the backstop is also meant to top up systems that do not fully meet the benchmark – for example, the backstop could expand the sources covered by provincial carbon pricing or it could increase the stringency of the jurisdiction’s carbon price.

According to the Technical Paper, the backstop will comprise two key elements:

A) a carbon levy on fossil fuels (whether in liquid, gaseous or solid form); and

B) an output-based pricing for industrial facilities with emissions above a specific threshold, as well as opt-in possibility for smaller facilities emitting below the threshold.

Scope of the Carbon Levy

Carbon levy rates will initially be set for the period from 2018 to 2022 – rates for each fuel subject to the levy will be established in such a way that they are equivalent to $10 per tonne of CO₂e in 2018 and increase by 10 per tonne annually until it reaches $50 per tonne in 2022. The Technical Paper sets out the rates for liquid fuels, gaseous fuels and solid fuels over the initial 5-year period. In generally, the carbon levy will apply to fuels that are used in a backstop jurisdiction, irrespective of whether the fuels were produced in, or brought into, the backstop jurisdiction. It is anticipated that the carbon levy will be applied early in the supply chain of each fuel, and will be payable by the producer or distributor. The proposed system differentiates among four categories of persons along the supply chain:

Registered Fuel Distributors – will generally include producers of fuel, large wholesale distributors of fuel, and natural gas retailers.
Registered Fuel Importers – will generally include entities that cannot become Registered Fuel Distributors and that import fuel from outside Canada at a location in a backstop jurisdiction, or that bring fuel into a backstop jurisdiction from another jurisdiction in Canada.
Registered Fuel Users – will generally include persons that cannot become Registered Fuel Distributors and that are required to report on fuel used in a backstop jurisdiction and, in certain circumstances, may be required to pay the carbon levy or be entitled to claim relief from the levy where it has already been paid. The following entities will be required to become Registered Fuel Users: commercial carriers (including operators of transport trucks, rail transportation, marine transportation, and air carriers), operators of facilities whose emissions are covered under the output-based pricing system, certain businesses that burn waste that is subject to the carbon levy, and certain businesses that use fuel as a raw material, dilulent or solvent in a manufacturing process that does not produce heat or energy.
Non-Registered Persons – will generally include retailers (other than natural gas retailers) and end-users, including individuals and business consumers.

The carbon levy will generally be payable when a Registered Fuel Distributor uses fuel in a backstop jurisdiction or delivers fuel to a person in the backstop jurisdiction that is not a Registered Fuel Importer. However, there are certain exemptions from the carbon levy, including fuel that is used at industrial facilities that are subject to output-based pricing, or fuel used in farming activities by registered farmers.

Overview of Administrative Requirements

Registered Fuel Distributors, Registered Fuel Importers and Registered Fuel Users will be required to register with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) file monthly returns. Furthermore, Registered Fuel Distributors and Registered Fuel Importers will be required to provide information on fuel amounts produced, brought into and imported into every jurisdiction as well as fuel amounts used and delivered in or outside a jurisdiction. Registered persons will also need to calculate the total amount of carbon levy payable for each backstop jurisdiction and remit that amount to the Receiver General of Canada.

Requirements with Respect to Inter-Jurisdictional Commercial Transportation

It should be noted that commercial carriers (that transport passengers, freight or both) that operate in a backstop jurisdiction and in at least one other jurisdiction, will be required to register with the CRA as Registered Fuel Users. For commercial road and rail transportation, the carbon levy will apply to only the fuel that is used within a backstop jurisdiction, meaning that the levy will apply to both fuel that is used during an intra-jurisdictional journey (i.e. one that starts and ends in the same jurisdiction) and to fuel that is used during the portion of an inter-jurisdictional or international journey that occurs in a backstop jurisdiction. For fuels used in commercial marine transportation, the carbon levy will only apply to fuel used in intra-jurisdictional travel. In the aviation sector, it is anticipated that the carbon levy will only apply to fuel used in intra-jurisdictional travel; however the federal government sees the introduction of the backstop pricing mechanism as an opportunity for federal and provincial/territorial governments to develop a nationally consistent approach to aviation emission as it relates to inter-jurisdictional commercial air transportation.

Designing an Output-based Carbon Pricing System

The output-based system will apply the carbon price to the portion of a covered source’s emissions that exceed those allowed by the emissions-intensity standard for the regulated activity. In terms of scope, the system will apply the carbon price to industrial facilities with annual emissions of 50,000 tonnes or more of CO₂e. However the system will apply to facilities in certain sectors including buildings (e.g. hospitals, schools, municipal buildings) as well as waste and wastewater, regardless of the amount of emissions. The proposed output-based system will provide facilities with annual emissions below 50,000 tonnes of CO₂e the ability to “opt-in” to the system. If a facility emits less than its regulatory limit, it will be able to earn surplus credits that it can sell to other regulated entities.

If a facility emits more than its regulatory limit in a given year, it can choose one or a combination of the following compliance options:

– Payment based at the carbon price that will be set in the backstop legislation ($10 per tonne in 2018, increasing to $50 per tonne in 2022)

– Use of eligible carbon offset credits (the proposed system could include foreign compliance units)

– Use of surplus credits that are issued to facilities with emissions below their annual limits.

In terms of administration, each regulated facility will be required to prepare and submit an annual compliance report on its emission levels and annual emissions limit.

Looking Ahead

As noted above, the federal government is in the process of finalizing the details of the carbon pricing backstop mechanism. The carbon levy will come into effect in 2018, while it is anticipated that the output-based pricing system will not come into effect before January 1, 2019. Until the output-based pricing system comes into force, the carbon levy will apply fully to fuels used by all industrial facilities.

Canada Moves Climate Change File Forward with Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change

Canada wrapped up an eventful year 2016 on its climate change file. On the heels of the meeting of First Ministers in March 2016 (which resulted in the Vancouver Declaration), the federal government signed the Paris Agreement when it was opened for signature on 22 April 2016. Efforts continued on developing a pan-Canadian climate change strategy, which culminated in the announcement of a pan-Canadian carbon price on 3 October 2016, ratification of the Paris Agreement on 5 October 2016 and the release of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (the Framework) by the First Ministers’ following their meeting on 9 December 2016. Notably, Saskatchewan was the only province which declined to adopt the Framework.

The Framework is based on the principles set out in the Vancouver Declaration, which outlined a collaborative approach to meet or exceed Canada’s 2030 target of 30% below 2005 levels of greenhouse (GHG) emissions and enable sustainable growth, while recognizing the need for fair and flexible approaches to support the diversity of provincial and territorial economies. The Framework has four main pillars:

Pricing carbon pollution – an efficient way to reduce emissions, drive innovation, and encourage people and businesses to pollute less;
Complementary measures to further reduce emissions across the economy – such measures can address market barriers where pricing alone is insufficient or not timely enough to reduce emissions in the pre-2030 timeframe;
Measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience – this will help to ensure that infrastructure and communities are adequately prepared for climate risks such as floods, wildfires, droughts and extreme weather events, particularly in Indigenous, northern, coastal and remote communities; and
Actions to accelerate innovation, support clean technology, and create jobs – by positioning Canada as a global leader in clean technology, Canada will remain internationally competitive and new jobs will be created across the country.

The Framework builds on provincial and territorial efforts to reduce GHG emissions and sets out actions under each of the Framework’s pillars. These actions include:

developing new building codes to ensure that buildings use less energy, thus saving money for households and businesses;
deploying more electric charging stations to support zero-emitting vehicles, which is an integral part of the future of transportation;
expanding clean electricity systems, promoting inter-ties, and using smart-grid technologies to phase out the reliance on coal, make more efficient use of existing power supplies, and ensure a greater use of renewable energy;
reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector;
protecting and enhancing carbon stored in forested lands, wetlands and agricultural lands; and
driving significant reductions in emissions from government operations.

To promote clean growth, the federal government (in collaboration with the provinces and territories) will be investing in green infrastructure, public transit, and clean technology and innovation, as well as promoting efforts to reduce the reliance of remote and northern communities on diesel by connecting them to electricity grids and implementing renewable energy systems.

Provincial and territorial officials have been tasked with implementing the Framework and will report back to the First Ministers within a year, and annually thereafter. Federal and provincial/territorial governments will also work together to establish a review of carbon pricing, including an assessment of stringency and effectiveness, which will be completed by early 2022; an interim report will be completed in 2020, which will assess approaches and best practices to address the competitiveness of emissions intensive, trade exposed (EITE) sectors. As noted above, the federal government announced a pan-Canadian carbon price in October 2016, which establishes a minimum price of $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) in 2018, increasing by $10 each year until the carbon price reaches $50 per tonne of CO₂e by 2022. Pricing will be based on GHG emissions and applied to a broad set of sources; at a minimum, carbon pricing should apply to substantively the same sources as BC’s carbon tax. Provinces and territories must implement carbon pricing in their jurisdictions by 2018, either in the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system. Where a jurisdiction fails to meet the carbon price benchmark, the federal government will introduce a carbon pricing system into such jurisdiction and return the revenues to it. Further, provinces with cap-and-trade need (i) a 2030 emissions reduction target, and (ii) declining annual caps to at least 2022 that correspond, at a minimum, to the projected emissions reductions resulting from the carbon price that year in price-based systems.

As the provinces and territories work to implement the Framework, all levels of government will need to seek input from subject matter experts and stakeholders to ensure informed decision making and the use of best practices. Stay tuned for further developments.

Setting our sights on 2050: Canada announces Mid-Century Long-Term Low-Greenhouse Gas Development Strategy at COP 22

At COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco, federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced Canada’s Mid-Century Long-Term Low-Greenhouse Gas Development Strategy (the Strategy). As one of the first countries to release a long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy focused on 2050, the Strategy describes various pathways for innovative and creative solutions consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding the global average ‎temperature rise to well below 2 °C, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. In particular, the Strategy considers an emissions abatement pathway consistent with net emissions falling by 80% in 2050 from 2005 levels.

The federal government acknowledges that in order to achieve emission reductions in line with this goal will require substantial effort on the part of all Canadians, with a fundamental restructuring of multiple sectors of the economy. Cost-effective abatement opportunities will need to be realized from virtually every greenhouse gas emissions source and activity. In the energy sector, this will include enhanced energy efficiency and conservation, finding cleaner ways to produce and store electricity, and switching towards non-emitting electricity or other low-GHG alternatives.

The Strategy notes that the risks of inaction are threefold:

Ongoing emissions of anthropogenic GHG will cause atmospheric concentrations to continue to rise, leading to higher global average temperatures and a cascade of related impacts, including increases in severe weather, and rising sea level.
Failure to act now means that costs will likely rise in the future as the required pace of decarbonisation increases. This raises the probability of misallocation of investment and infrastructure, as well as stranded assets.
As the world moves to address climate change, Canada should not be left behind in the emerging global markets for clean energy and related goods and services.

The Strategy identifies the following key messages:

Most Canadians recognise the need to mitigate climate change and limit the increase in the global average temperature, but the magnitude of the challenge is less well understood, with a requirement for very deep emissions cuts from every sector by mid-century.
Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to avoid the increasing threat presented by climate change. Benefits of action to reduce climate risk will outweigh costs and the international community is moving towards low-greenhouse gas economies. A particular focus on short-lived climate pollutants is also required if we are to stay below the 1.5°C – 2°C temperature goal.
Canada has worked closely with the United States and Mexico in the development of this report. Our continental partners have also described ambitious mitigation action by 2050 in their respective strategies.
Encouraging international efforts, including reducing emissions in other countries will be key to the global response.
Working collaboratively with Indigenous peoples by supporting their ongoing implementation of climate change initiatives will be key. Consultations with Indigenous communities must respect the constitutional, legal, and international obligations that Canada has for its Indigenous peoples.
The Strategy will help inform the pan-Canadian framework for clean growth and climate change.

In addition, the Strategy identifies a number of building blocks that could provide the foundation for Canada’s long-term climate change mitigation strategy:

Cities are home to 70% of the world’s energy related carbon dioxide emissions. Canadian cities host 80% of the national population, compared to 62% sixty years ago. With a continuing trend in urbanization for the upcoming decades, cities across Canada cannot afford to wait to increase climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Canada’s forests and lands will continue to play an important role in sequestering substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This sequestration can be augmented through policies and measures that better manage our forests and forest products. Without consideration of the global land sector, the 1.5 to 2°C temperature goal will be very hard to achieve.
Energy efficiency and demand side management are key to achieving deep GHG reductions. Efficiency gains are also key enablers of electrification technologies and consumer savings.
Electrification has been identified as an essential step in all deep GHG mitigation analyses. The electrification of end-use applications that are currently using fossil fuels is fundamental, e.g. using electricity to power certain cars, trucks, building appliances and heating systems, and energy requirements for some industries.
Concurrent trends towards decarbonization of the electricity generating sector are needed. Electricity generation in Canada is already more than 80% non-emitting, with a trend towards non-emitting generation expected to continue, including through increased government action.
Some sectors such as heavy industries, marine transportation, some heavy freight transportation, and aviation could move to lower or low-carbon fuels such as second generation biofuels or hydrogen. Alternatively, new and emerging technologies in synthetic hydrocarbons or energy storage would be needed.
Abatement of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases, such as methane and hydrofluorocarbons, is a priority given their high global warming potentials. Reductions of these pollutants can often help slow the rate of near-term warming and contribute to achievement of the global temperature goal. Although black carbon is not classified as a greenhouse gas, it has strong global warming effects that must also be addressed.
Innovation will also be crucial. A sustainable energy transition is possible with currently deployed or near-commercial technologies, but the long-term transition will be eased with the near-term accelerated deployment of clean energy options, or the development of more innovative technologies. The private sector has an important role to play in this respect including spurring investment and innovation towards low GHG alternatives. Carbon pricing will be an important element to achieving this objective.
Collaboration with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, municipalities, business and other stakeholders will be essential to Canada’s long-term success in enabling clean growth, reducing emissions and seizing the opportunities of the low-carbon global economy.

Dealing with climate change will ultimately require net-zero anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions over the course of this century. The Strategy document concludes by noting that Canada will need to fundamentally transform all economic sectors, especially patterns of energy production and consumption.

Canadian Federal Government Announces Minimum Carbon Price for Provinces to Meet

On October 3, 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the federal government will set a minimum price on carbon starting at $10 per tonne in 2018, and increasing by $10 per year for the next four years until it reaches $50 per tonne by 2022. Each province will be required to implement carbon pricing in its jurisdiction within two years – whether in the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system – which must meet the federal minimum price. Otherwise, the federal government will impose a tax that makes up the difference and return the revenue to the province. In addition, provincial emission reduction goals for reducing emissions must be at least as stringent as federal targets. Currently, Canada’s four biggest provinces – Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia – have carbon pricing plans in place.

The Prime Minister said he will convene a first ministers’ meeting on December 8 with the aim of concluding a pan-Canadian climate plan, which would include carbon pricing and other measures.

Update on China: China Steps into Leadership Role as it takes Action on Climate Change

In his first comments as China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang recently laid out a vision of a more equitable society in which environmental protection trumps unbridled growth and government officials put the people’s welfare before their own financial interests. While the Prime Minister was short on specifics, his comments represent an encouraging acknowledgment of some of the pressing issues facing China.

Traditionally, China has been used as a carbon scapegoat and excuse for inaction by countries such as Canada and the U.S., whose per capita emissions are much higher. However the tables are turning with China beginning to take a leadership role in addressing climate change. China’s emergence as a climate leader means that Canada and other countries can no longer point their fingers at China as an excuse for not taking action to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions.

China to roll out Cap & Trade in 2013

As the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China is preparing to gradually roll out cap-and-trade pilot programs in seven major cities and provinces starting in 2013. This initiative is part of a larger goal to reduce carbon intensity – or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output – by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2020.

In November 2011, the Chinese government decided to implement cap-and-trade pilots in two provinces and five cities (including Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen) beginning in 2013 with the final goal of implementing a nationwide exchange program by 2016. In less than two years, officials have designed and started to implement seven trading trials that cover around one-third of China’s gross domestic product and one-fifth of its energy use. If successful, the schemes could demonstrate that an emissions trading system will be an effective way for China to manage its greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, China’s activities may spur policy makers in other countries such as the US to act.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance previously estimated that the regional pilots would cumulatively cover 800 million to 1 billion tonnes of emissions in China by 2015, meaning that the market would become the world’s second largest after the European Union. It has been reported that at the beginning, regional and city-wide markets will remain separate with unique rules and criteria. For example, some of the markets will cover factories and industrial operations exclusively, while others will focus on power generation or non-industrial sectors.

The first trades took place in September 2012 in Guangdong province, when four cement-manufacturing companies invested several million dollars to acquire carbon pollution permits (allowances). The Guangdong scheme is expected to cover more than 800 companies that each emit more than 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year across nine industries, including the energy-intensive steel and power sectors. These firms account for more than 40% of the power used in the province. The Guangdong carbon market alone will regulate some 277 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2015.

China plans to open six further regional emissions-trading schemes in 2013, in the province of Hubei and in the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen. It plans to expand and link them until they form a nationwide scheme by the end of the decade. A nationwide scheme could then link to international markets.

Until now, China’s experience with carbon trading has been limited to the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol. While China’s political system could let a carbon market grow faster than anywhere else because changes can be implemented quickly, the carbon market faces challenges in China. In particular, China needs to develop and enforce proper legislation and regulations to measure, report and verify carbon emissions from industrial sites. It also needs to build an effective framework to oversee the reporting and trading of carbon credits.

At this stage, the most urgent issue that needs to be addressed is how China collects and analyzes data on carbon emissions. The credibility of China’s statistics on energy use and carbon emissions has been questioned partly because of the large discrepancies between numbers calculated using top-down data and numbers calculated using bottom-up data. Without accurate numbers, the first transaction of the Guangdong trading scheme was based on expected future carbon emissions, rather than historical data. Improved statistical methodology and political action will be required to boost the reliability of carbon emissions data in China. China will also need specific laws to ensure transparent reporting and strong enforcement to prevent fraudulent or misleading claims about carbon emissions.

Chinese Carbon Tax on the Horizon

On the climate front, the Chinese government appears to be on the verge of taking a critical step which has been demonized by politicians in Canada and the USA – that is, implementing a carbon tax. Although the carbon tax is expected to be modest, China plans to also increase coal taxes.

According to Jia Chen, head of the tax policy division of China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF), China will proactively introduce a set of new taxation policies designed to preserve the environment, including a tax on carbon emissions. In an article published on the MOF web site in February 2013, Jia wrote that the government will collect an environmental protection tax instead of pollutant discharge fees, as well as levy a tax on carbon emissions. The local taxation authority will collect the taxes, rather than the environmental protection department. The article did not specify the level of carbon tax or when the new measures will be implemented. In 2010, MOF experts suggested levying a carbon tax in 2012 at 10 yuan per tonne of carbon dioxide, as well as recommended increasing the tax to 50 yuan per tonne by 2020. These prices are far below the 500 yuan (US $80) per tonne that some experts have suggested would be needed to achieve climate stability.

It is not anticipated that China’s plan will have a significant impact on global climate change, although the tax may have some beneficial impact within China itself, where air pollution is a serious problem. A paper from the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning suggests that a small tax could still raise revenue and provide an incentive to reduce emissions, thus bolstering China’s renewable energy industry.

To conserve natural resources, the government will push forward resource tax reforms by taxing coal based on prices instead of sales volume, as well as raising coal taxes. A resource tax will also be levied on water. In addition, the government is also looking into the possibility of taxing energy intensive products such as batteries, as well as luxury goods such as aircraft which are not used for public transportation.

Canada Missing out on Growing Global Environmental Market

Despite the slow recovery of the global economy and a lack of political will for addressing environmental and climate change issues, a report by the Environmental Business Journal estimates that the annual value of the global environmental market was $866 billion in 2011, up 4% from the year before. While the US, Western Europe and Japan remain the three largest and most mature environmental markets, growth in the global environmental market in 2011 was led by Africa (up 10%), followed by the Middle East and the rest of Asia (both up 9%). In terms of business sectors, the largest is solid waste management, followed by water utilities and treatment. Recycling, green building, energy efficiency and other areas under the resource recovery and clean energy categories are all growing at faster rates than the overall economy in most nations.

In Canada, there is a large untapped potential for environmental markets. A report released by Sustainable Prosperity in November 2012 estimates that Canada’s combined environmental marketplace is worth between $462 million and $752 million annually. The wide gap between the high and low estimates is due to a lack of transparency and the definition of “environmental market”. In the report, an environmental market is defined as a market having a buyer, a seller and the exchange of an environmental attribute. 57 markets were covered in the report and it is anticipated that the value of the Canadian environmental marketplace will increase as new programs such as Quebec’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system develop. Sustainable Prosperity’s analysis indicates that markets addressing biodiversity and habitat conservation, water quality, water quantity, climate change, and air quality can provide environmental benefits inexpensively if they are well-designed markets. For investors, they also represent an opportunity for exposure to a new and growing asset class. These markets may represent a significant financial sum as a whole, but most of the individual ones are small and underdeveloped in terms of their infrastructure and scope. Greater certainty in terms of environmental policy and regulatory flexibility to allow for the increased use of markets would help attract the necessary capital from the private sector to expand and grow Canada’s environmental marketplace.

Race to the Bottom: Canada ranks 58 out of 61 in new Climate Change Performance Index 2013

In the newly released Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2013, Canada is ranked fourth from the bottom and slips behind USA, China and Russia. In last year’s ranking, Canada was in 54th place before Russia and China. The CCPI found that Canada still shows no intention of moving forward on climate policy, thereby leaving it as the worst performer of all western countries. This is no surprise to those familiar with Canada’s federal government’s deliberate inaction on the issue of climate change, however Canada’s policy stand continues to perplex many. The bottom three countries are Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kazakhstan, all of whom are highly dependent on oil and gas exports.

The eighth edition of the annual CCPI, which was published at the Doha climate talks on December 3, 2012 by the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Germanwatch, ranks the climate protection performance of the 58 highest emitters worldwide. The first three ranks are actually empty, because no country on the list is pursuing a path that would achieve the goal of keeping the global temperature increase below 2 degree Celsius. The CCPI names Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada and the US as the world‘s worst climate polluters; the same as in previous editions. The best international climate policy is credited to Mexico, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway, while Turkey, Japan, Canada and Iran hold the lowest places in this category.

For the first time, the index used deforestation data, which resulted in a rankings drop of countries with high forest emissions such as Brazil and Indonesia. The two biggest emitters, US and China, still rank comparably low. The US climbed up in this year’s CCPI, but partly due to decreased emissions resulting from the economic crisis and its massive exploration of shale gas. The indirect emissions of shale gas are not taken into account in the CCPI, as only energy and forest emissions are included. With a shift towards renewables and greater efficiency, the US could climb up even more. Jan Burck, one of CCPI’s authors, notes that China’s emissions levels has risen, but as its massive investments in renewable energies are expected to show an effect shortly, China’s emissions trend could slow down in the near future and lead to better results. The Climate Change Performance Index 2013 country table can be found here.

Canadian Federal Government Issues Notice for Reporting of 2010 GHG Emissions

On August 14, 2010, the federal government published a notice in the Canada Gazette requiring all persons who operate a facility emitting 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or more per year to report their 2010 emissions to Environment Canada no later than June 1, 2011.

On August 14, 2010, the federal government published a notice (the Notice) in the Canada Gazette requiring all persons who operate a facility emitting 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or more per year to report their 2010 emissions to Environment Canada no later than June 1, 2011. This information will be collected through Environment Canada’s Single Window Reporting System, which was launched in early 2010.

Pursuant to section 46(8) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999), persons subject to the Notice are required to keep copies of this information, together with any calculations, measurements and other data on which the information is based, at the facility to which the calculations, measurements and other data relate, or at the facility’s parent company, located in Canada, for a period of three years from the date the information is required to be submitted.

The Minister of the Environment intends to publish greenhouse gas emission totals by gas by facility. Pursuant to section 51 of CEPA 1999, any person subject to the Notice who provides information in response to the Notice may submit, with their information, a written request that it be treated as confidential based on the reasons set out in section 52 of CEPA 1999. The person requesting confidential treatment of the information is required to indicate which of the reasons in section 52 of CEPA 1999 applies to their request. However the Minister may disclose, in accordance with subsection 53(3) of CEPA 1999, information submitted in response to the Notice. Any person who fails to comply with CEPA 1999 may be subject to a maximum fine of $1,000,000 and/or three years’ imprisonment.