Environment Minister Stephen Gilbo is creating Canada’s first carbon offset market to help large industries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon offsets will be created when an entity such as a municipality, a farmer or a company reduces its own emissions more than it should.
The proposed regulations say that one credit will be created for each tonne of reduced emissions, but credits must be registered and independently verified before they can be sold.
Companies that pay the federal price of carbon can buy these loans to reduce the amount of carbon they have to pay.
Large industrial emissions can now buy and sell carbon credits created by other companies covered by the federal carbon pricing system, but carbon offset markets will expand the credit system beyond this group of companies.
The first carbon offset market will be for loans produced by municipalities that capture methane from their landfills, and future markets will be created to reduce emissions from agricultural land, forests and to reduce or eliminate fluorinated refrigerants in modern refrigeration systems.
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