It is a fee based on the amount of carbon in a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal contain carbon. When burned they release the potent green house gas, carbon dioxide (CO₂), into the atmosphere. The fee is based on the tonnes of carbon dioxide the fuel would generate, and it would be collected at the earliest point of entry into the economy — well, mine or port. The fee would start out low — $15 per tonne — and gradually increase $10 each year.

The dividend is defined as the quantity of revenue to be rebated to Canadian households. In this case, 100 percent of the total carbon fees collected are divided up and given back to all households equally. This dividend helps citizens pay the increased costs associated with the carbon fee while our nation transitions to a clean energy economy.

A September 2018 study commissioned by Canadians for Clean Prosperity determined that the vast majority of Canadians would come out ahead with carbon fee and dividend.

In Canada we will receive our first carbon dividend in April 2019 and it will be called the “Climate Action Incentive” which be sent to residents living provinces where the backstop policy applies.

Yes, that is the whole point of pricing carbon pollution.

We trust the experts and the vast majority of economists say that although not a stand-alone for addressing the climate crisis, pricing carbon pollution is the most economically efficient way to reduce emissions.

Did you read the IPCC’s 1.5C October Report?  We are at the cusp of global disaster and carbon pricing is key for creating a liveable world in 2040.

As well, the 2018 Nobel Prize in economics went to Yale economist William Nordhaus  (alongside New York University economist Paul Romer) for carbon pricing.

In British Columbia, from the time the BC carbon tax was introduced in 2008 and steadily increased until 2011, GHG per capita from sources subject to the carbon tax dropped by 10% but only 1% in the rest of the country. BC’s GDP also performed better than the rest of Canada during that time frame.  Read Sustainable Prosperity’s report on the BC carbon tax here.

A 2014 US study by Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) examined the impact of a steadily-rising fee on carbon with revenue returned to households. Among other findings, the study shows that, after 20 years, a fee on carbon dioxide rising $10 per ton each year would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 52 percent while adding 2.8 million jobs to the economy.

No, it is not enough.

Although, Citizens’ Climate Lobby has focused on carbon pricing since 2010 in Canada we recognize other initiatives are necessary to avert disaster and so does the Canadian government.

We encourage you all to build political will for other important initiatives using our formula: build a broad base of support, use non-partisan methods, focus on a well-researched policy, build alliances with like-minded groups, and be patient as these things take a lot of time.

The PanCanadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change recognizes that other programs are necessary.  Here is summary of their suite of programs with carbon pricing in perspective:

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s all agree we need all hands on deck and thus, we need to cooperate and lots need to be done.

Let’s also take stock of what has happened in the last year.

Here is a really good example of reducing GHGs that you may not be aware of.  Canada was the host of the G7 this year and enacted the G7 Oceans Plastic Charter and pledged to reduce plastic garbage. At current trends, the plastics industry could consume 15 percent of the world’s total carbon budget by 2050. 

Here are more examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ideally, we need a carbon price of at least $150.00 tonne by 2030. However, forty-eight percent of Canadians are within $200 each month of financial insolvency (IPSOs Reid Data January 2018). Clearly, carbon pricing needs to be revenue-neutral and therefore, the government must use other sources of revenue to balance the budget and other social concerns.

What we need is tax reform. A streamlined and efficient income tax program would secure more money for the government coffers. We could end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Closing tax havens would generate billions of dollars. Ending the CEO stock-option loophole would generate 750 million per year. Canada should also consider inheritance taxes.

For details go here: https://cclca.wpengine.com/laser-talk-balancing-the-budget-the-climate-crisis-and-social-concerns/

 

 

 

 

 

In one word: no.

In the spring of 2018, the Pembina Institute launched an online climate policy simulator that is freely available for all to use. The simulator allows the user to assess the effectiveness of individual policies on greenhouse gas emissions from Canada to mid-century.

Assuming all provinces sign on to the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and successfully implement climate action plans aligned with the PCF, Canada is likely to meet the 2030 Paris agreement objective a 30 % cut in emissions by 2030. Deep decarbonization by mid-century would likely require additional policies. If you remove carbon pricing from the model, the core driver of emissions reduction is gone. The only other option is a complex series of specific policies within each economic sector, which is much more expensive for the
taxpayer. In fact, other policies activated in the simulator to 100% still does not arrive at the same result for emissions reduction as is the case with carbon pricing in effect.

The take-home message in working with the Pembina policy simulator is that, in agreement with the consensus of climate change economists, carbon pricing is an essential core component of a cost-effective climate plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carbon Fee and Dividend is a revenue-neutral price on carbon that functions as follows:
• A fee is placed on carbon-based fuels at the source (well, mine or port of entry).
• All of the money collected is returned to Canadians on an equitable basis.
• Under this plan most Canadian households would break even or receive more in their dividend check than they would pay for the increased cost of energy, thereby protecting the poor and middle class.
• A predictably increasing carbon price will send a clear market signal which will unleash entrepreneurs and investors in the new clean-energy economy.
• It includes border tax adjustments on imports from jurisdictions without equivalent carbon pricing to prevent leakage and spur our trading partners to price carbon.
Check out our cartoons describing carbon fee and dividend
in English (pdf) and in French (pdf):

 

 

 

 

In one word: No.

Certain industries will be subjected to output based carbon pricing which means they still pay a carbon price, rewards best in their industry and penalizes carbon laggards.

Here is an overview of the Federal Backstop carbon pricing policy for more context:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For years CCL has advocated for Border Carbon Adjustments (BCA) to help with competitiveness issues and carbon leakage when Canada imposes a carbon pricing policy.

Ottawa has earmarked $1.5 billion dollars to help small business with carbon pricing.

As well, in 2017 and 2018 CCL Canada secured over 260 signatures from small business for a predictably rising carbon price for Canada.

Why would a small business want a predictably rising carbon price? So that they can plan for the future. As well most homes and businesses are not covered by overland flooding – thus they are at risk for losing everything.

As an organization not headquartered in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal or Vancouver we applaud that people who live outside big cities will get 10% more to account for a higher reliance on fossil fuels and lack of access to things like public transit.

We are headquartered in Sudbury.

For example, people outside of Toronto may not know this but Greyhound Service will no longer run buses west out of Sudbury ON as of October 31, 2018 leaving no-service between Sudbury and Vancouver.

Northern Ontario’s train service was culled by the Ontario government  in 2012 despite there being a need and if properly designed an economic case for it. And Via Rail service outside of the highway 401 corridor in Ontario – Quebec is just not convenient.

 

The October 2018 IPCC  Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC sent a clarion call for action.  Ninety-one authors and review editors from 40 countries prepared the IPCC report in response to an invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when it adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The report’s full name is Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes.

Every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5ºC or higher increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of some ecosystems.

Limiting global warming would also give people and ecosystems more room to adapt and remain  below relevant risk thresholds, added Pörtner. The report also examines pathways available to limit warming to 1.5ºC, what it would take to achieve them and what the consequences could be.

In combination with complimentary measures, carbon pricing is a key component of limiting global warming.

 

With Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation, it is clear to citizens that prices for fossil fuels will go up every year. Part of their motivation is to save as much of their dividend check as possible rather than spending it on more expensive fossil fuels. They can do this by changing over to energy efficient lighting and appliances, upgrading their insulation or windows, replacing that old oil furnace with a geothermal heat pump, etc. When it comes time to get another vehicle, they would consider one that gets better gas mileage or an all-electric vehicle. They can then buy clean electricity (where available) through their utility to charge their car, getting them off fossil fuels altogether. The motivation is to reduce cost in the years to come. The same is true for investors and for fossil fuel companies: as the fee increases, and the cost of doing business rises with it, the rising dividend will ensure that the true cost of doing business will be paid by those in that business.

The best example would be gasoline. A $10 per tonne increase in the carbon fee would equal about 2 pennies on the price of gas. So if the carbon tax started at $15/tonne, gasoline would go up by about 3 cents per litre the first year and 2  cents each year afterward.

 

But keep in mind, most Canadians would come out ahead with what the additional costs on pollution compared to what they get back from the government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China prices carbon.

Obviously we all do need to do more and we need to do it together if the world is to avert disaster.

Here is the latest data from the World Bank

• 53 Carbon Pricing initiatives implemented or scheduled for implementation
• 46 National Jurisdictions are covered by the initiatives selected
• 25 Subnational Jurisdictions are covered by the initiatives selected

In 2018, these initiatives would cover

• 11 GtCO2e, representing 19.8% of
• global GHG emissions
• Total value  of carbon pricing initiatives in 2018 = $81.68 Bn (USD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. We will do our fair share to stabilize our climate and oceans and slow down the mass extinction of species.
2. It will put Canada in a position of leadership on climate legislation and in clean technology.
3. It will extend the lifetime of a valuable non-renewable resource in Canada: petroleum, which is a critical component of many industrial processes and every items.
4. The transition to clean energy will clean our air of smog, ozone, fine particulate matter and other pollutants caused by burning fossil fuel. It will clean our lakes, rivers, and oceans from the mercury poisoning caused by burning coal, the leachates from coal mine tailings, and salt brines from drilling.

The World Health Organization and Médecins sans Frontières have identified climate change as the greatest threat to global health in this century. The Canadian Medical Association(CMA) policy paper on Climate Change and Human Health concludes that the global community needs to act together to address the health and environmental impacts of climate change. In August 2015 the CMA passed motion DM 5-21 to promote a strong, predictable price on carbon emissions. In light of the health risk of climate change we at CCL support physicians that ask that all Canadian political parties commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by putting an effective price on carbon.

In one word: no.

From the time the BC carbon tax was introduced in 2008 and steadily increased until 2011, GHG per capita from sources subject to the carbon tax dropped by 10% but only 1% in the rest of the country. BC’s GDP also performed better than the rest of Canada during that time frame.
Read Sustainable Prosperity’s report on the BC carbon tax here.

We have already mentioned the REMI study and the BC Carbon Tax.  Here is more proof that carbon fee will work.

• An excellent summary of a peer-reviewed article about carbon pricing here: 10 Fast Facts About Revenue-Neutral Carbon Fees
• The Climate Leadership Council’s latest study Exceeding Paris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• like us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CCLCanada/
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• Sign and share Canadians for Carbon Dividends petition  https://www.carbon-dividends.ca/petition/
• Although a tad partisan but also blunt and honest is the Avaaz petition for carbon pricing in Canada: https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/carbonpricenow
• Sign up as a Canadian Supporter so you will receive our newsletters and very rare but important alerts: https://cclca.wpengine.com/join-citizens-climate-lobby/?tfa_1=Canada