|
19 March 2007 -- Canada's energy industry would have to cut its carbon emissions by up to 46 percent or pay billions of dollars a year in penalties under a climate change plan by the opposition Liberal Party, according to Reuters.
The Liberal plan would reach Canada's targets under the Kyoto protocol of cutting emissions to 6 percent below 1990 levels, even though in 2004 they were 27 percent over. Each sector would start with its emissions in 1990 and have to achieve the reductions even if, as in the case of the oil and gas industry, emissions have risen with output.
The plan projects that three sectors—electricity generation, upstream oil and gas, and energy-intensive industries—would have to cut emissions by an average 33 percent to 261 megatonnes from the 388 megatonnes they are projected to hit in 2010 if no changes were implemented.
They would have to pay C$20 ($17) a tonne, or C$20 million per megatonne, for any amount that was over their limit in 2008. That would rise to C$25 million a megatonne in 2009 and C$30 million in 2011. By 2011, if none of the reductions were made, they would have to pay out C$4.2 billion a year on the expected 127 megatonnes in cuts that should have been made. Electricity generators would need a 36 percent or 49 megatonne cut.
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
