BC Carbon Tax Goes Live!

On Canada Day yesterday, British Columbia instituted the first region-wide carbon tax in North America. Sure, Boulder, Colorado has theirs, and San Francisco is proposing one of their own, but this effort far exceeds the scale and scope of either initiative. Fundamentally, it is intended to drive structural changes in the BC economy by creating an incentive for large emitters such as utilities, to invest in new, low- or zero- emission renewables.

This tax has several important characteristics:

• The BC government sets a price on carbon according to a five-year schedule, beginning at $10 per ton and incrementing by $5 per ton each year, to reach $30 per ton in 2012.
• It is intended to be revenue-neutral, which means increased prices are compensated for by decreased individual income taxes. Interestingly, this is a similar mechanism to the way offsets themselves work. (I'll talk about this in a later post.)
• It is part of a wider set of measures aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. BC is an active participant in the Western Climate Initiative, which means that they will act in cap-and-trade system with other states and provinces in the Western US and Mexico.

It will be really interesting to see how this tax actually affects carbon emissions - it will add an estimated 2.4 cents per litre, or close to 9 cents per gallon to the price of gas.

It remains to be seen how severe the political fallout is. As with most taxes, the polls are not at all favorable at this point. There are an army of smart people who put this one together, but they may end up no match for consumer opinion. It is really difficult to implement a tax when just across the border in the US, or in Alberta, the same tax does not apply.

Others will be watching the impact of this tax on opportunities for investment in carbon offset projects, and the price of carbon in the WCI market. Personally, I feel a government-set price for carbon will limit the amount of investment in the industry.

If the price floated freely, based on carbon's increasing concentration, Sir Nicholas Stern estimates that we should be looking at a price of around $200 per ton, or more. Clearly, small taxes are more favorable than large ones, but large prices mean market opportunity. And that is what is needed to get us to reversing the course of emissions.

The Climate Change Office Pool

Researchers at the National Snow and Ice Center in Boulder, CO are running an informal office pool betting on whether this is the year that the Arctic Ocean is briefly ice-free during the summer. Several other researchers are putting the odds of this happening at between 25-50% chance this year.

Sure, these researchers are affiliated with one of the most notorious party schools in the USA, but the extent of the chance is what is important here. When I first became environmentally active, the best available projections suggested an ice-free Arctic by 2080, and here it is, 2008, and there are Office Pools on whether this is the year. The way things are going, we will need to look closely at developing our ability to adapt rapidly.

Here is a daily picture of Arctic ice cover. I'll be checking it daily!

On another note, we are making modifications to our site, working through the great feedback we have received. One thing several folks have asked for is a way to go back and check their carbon footprint histories - it's coming soon!

The "We're Toast" without Action Post

"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path"

Noted climate scientist James Hansen was on the Hill last week, exactly 20 years after he first testified to Congress about climate change. His warning is dire - we have reached about 387 parts-per-million of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, and we need to return to 350 parts-per-million if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

What is required to change our path? What can we as individuals do to make our actions count toward reversing our carbon emissions. How can we "be the change", as Gandhi once put it.

Here is my five point plan for changing your path:

1. Inform yourself, and then use your knowledge to address denials of climate change where they occur. The untruths and blatant misrepresentations about climate change in postings online are completely counter-productive, and serve only to delay action. Respond to these postings where you can by guiding the dialog to excellent resources such as the New Scientist, where you will find a great discussion of many of the various climate change myths. While this may appear confrontational, facts can be gently persuasive!

2. Reduce your personal impact on the planet. The easiest way is to reduce your energy use. We have a section on our site that suggests different ways to lighten your footprint. Review them, and make some changes! What you can't reduce, balance out through offsets.

3. Become an advocate for emissions reductions at work, and in your community. Join or start a Carbon Reduction Action Group (CRAG). CRAGs allow you to develop your own carbon emissions baseline, set a reduction goal , and track your progress towards that goal. They are also a great way to build a grass-roots carbon reduction effort in your community. Get out, get to know your neighbours and get them involved!

4. Get wired. We live in a society that prizes instant gratification. Realtime feedback is a valuable way of determining your impact. This is a shameless plug for technology such as the Scanguage to check your vehicle's fuel consumption in real-time, and the Centameter, to assess your home energy consumption and carbon emissions.

5. Keep the faith! Carbon Dioxide is a colorless, odorless gas. It's hard to see progress, the way it is when you clean up a neighborhood, or help rebuild homes, or save habitat. Find hope in your community connections, rather than in a charismatic or cuddly carbon project.

So that's it! So simple, everyone should be doing it!