Ontario's Proposed Cap-And-Trade System Comes With An Emissions Target
By Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press.
TORONTO — Ontario is preparing to introduce a cap-and-trade system to put a price on carbon emissions and reduce greenhouse gases, but it will mean extra costs for businesses.
A document circulated to industry and business leaders this fall for comment shows the Liberal government wants to reduce Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions to 15 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.
It says the cap and trade scheme will have to start by Jan. 1, 2017, and would require that the limit on emissions decline by 3.7 per cent each year to achieve the 2020 target. Quebec's cap is scheduled to decline between 3.2 and 3.7 per cent a year between 2015 and 2020, while California's is set to decline 3.1 to 3.5 per cent.