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Backgrounder
For Immediate Release: February 18, 2008
BC’s Climate Budget 2008:
What Will It Take?
Major BC environmental organizations will be assessing the
climate impact of BC’s 2008 budget on the following key
parameters:
Carbon Pricing
The cap and trade system BC has committed itself to as part
of the Western Climate Initiative will be one means of establishing
a price for carbon (on emissions covered by that system when
it is established, possibly not until 2012). Establishing
a carbon tax now covering a broad range of fossil fuels (linked
to their relative carbon intensity) will be the primary fiscal
measure to ensure industry, businesses and individuals are
given the most accurate price signals that encourage innovation
and climate-friendly behaviour change.
Elements of a carbon tax that will be important to assess:
Revenue-neutrality: how is government recycling the revenue
in a way that reinforces a strong behaviour change and innovation
incentive among industry, individuals and businesses?
Increases over time: has government established a concrete
timeline for scheduled increases in the tax to provide growing
incentives to make larger behaviour changes over time and
a strong incentive to businesses and entrepreneurs to invest
now in low-carbon products and services of the future?
Public Infrastructure Investments
Well-targeted government infrastructure investments can make
powerful contributions to shaping community design over time,
influencing British Columbians’ lifestyle choices and
providing direct reductions in emissions. In particular we
will be looking for significant allocations to transit to
kick start the $14 billion Transit Plan announced last month,
support for low energy retrofits on publicly owned buildings,
sewage infrastructure upgrades that capture renewable energy
and investments in the electrification of ports and trucks
stops. We are also looking for mechanisms and funding to support
programs that protect biodiversity and enable municipalities
and industries to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of
climate change.
Incentives for citizens, businesses, institutions and local
government:
In order to meet the challenge of climate change, British
Columbians will need to make significant energy efficiency
investments as well as different lifestyle choices over time.
Government needs to play a large role in helping British Columbians
with these changes and making the right changes and choices.
We will be looking for budget allocations that help with energy
retrofits to existing buildings, that encourage municipalities
to use their bylaw and development powers to shape low-carbon
communities over time, and that draw more renewable energy
into our power supplies.
Cross-budget consistency
Many of the fiscal measures we are seeking are tools that
will take us in the direction of meeting BC’s greenhouse
gas emissions reduction goals. However, we also hope to see
existing budget measures that are taking us in the wrong direction
– increasing our greenhouse gas emissions – reduced
or eliminated. These include expenditures on new roads and
bridges that only serve to breed more traffic, a quarter of
a billion dollars the BC taxpayer gives to massively profitable
companies in the form of subsidies to oil and gas production
(particularly new unconventional sources), subsidies on dirty
marine fuel and efforts to lift the national moratorium on
offshore oil and gas exploration and oil tanker traffic.
We also hope that government has considered calls for a new
legacy fund with an escalating portion of oil and gas revenues.
Oil and gas revenues currently generate about $2 billion per
year, yet BC is one of the few oil and gas producing jurisdictions
to not allocate a portion of these revenues to a heritage,
legacy or ‘rainy day’ fund. Alberta, Alaska, Norway,
and Chad all have such funds.
Equity
While the BC government’s strong commitment to tackling
global warming is a very welcome direction, we need to ensure
policy and fiscal approaches taken also address inequalities
in incomes, carbon footprints, and regional disparities. In
terms of the budget, our organizations will be looking for
generous incentive programs that specifically target low-income
households, funding for transition programs for workers in
affected industries, and large-scale public investments in
key areas like transit and housing.
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Media Contacts:
Peter Ronald, Provincial Coordinator, BC Sustainable
Energy Association: 250-213-3335 (cell)
Lisa Matthaus, Campaigns Director, Sierra Club BC: 250-888-6267
(cell)
Andrea Reimer, Executive Director, Wilderness Committee: 604-719-3920
(cell)
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