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Ontario proposes plan to make large emitters pay for extra pollution

February 13, 2019 – The Ontario government is considering making large industrial companies pay for units of greenhouse gas pollution if they use more than the emission standards that will be set by the province. 

Premier Doug Ford’s government made the announcement yesterday and is inviting public consultation on the issue. 

The proposed system would involve companies paying for “compliance units” that exceed standards, starting at $20 per tonne in summer 2019. Every year, prices would increase $10 until reaching a maximum of $50 per tonne by 2022.

Payments from the companies would go toward funding greenhouse gas reduction projects.

Environment Minister Rod Phillips hearalded the plan as “responsible,” but The Canadian Press reports that critics of the system say it is virtually the same as the federal carbon tax that the Ontario government has repeatedly challenged. 

The federal carbox tax will take effect April 1 for provinces that don’t have carbon pricing systems in place. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government eliminated the previous Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system last year.