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When it comes to being carbon neutral, the City of Prince George is right up there with other governments.
Environment manager Dan Adamson presented the Carbon Neutral Plan to council Monday evening, and, in response to a question from Coun. Garth Frizzell, said Prince George’s planning process is as far along as anyone else’s.
“I think there are three other communities in B.C. that have advanced as far as we have.”
The Carbon Neutral Plan would see corporate operations for the city become carbon neutral by 2102, as well as see a reduction of 10 per cent in corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2002 levels by the same date.
The city made those voluntary commitments as part signing on to the provincial Climate Action Charter and the Green Communities Committee, a joint venture by the province and the Union of B.C. Municipalities. In his report which accompanied the plan, Adamson said the costs to the city should be nil, at worst.
“In general, the province has designed the local government commitments to be cost-neutral at a minimum, and may even provide opportunities for added revenue.”
The provincial Carbon Tax Act requires that the tax be revenue-neutral for the province. In order to achieve this for the carbon tax collected on fuel used by local governments, the province established the Carbon Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP), which provides a mechanism for local governments to have those taxes refunded if they have signed the Climate Action Charter.
“In addition,” Adamson said, “the city’s commitment … provides eligibility to certain grants, such as the Community Action on Energy and Emissions, which has provided $75,000 in grants to the city so far.”
Adamson estimates that, through a number of strategies, by 2012 the corporate energy and GHG emissions savings could be $142,000. He also suggests the new Downtown District Energy System could meet the 10 per cent corporate GHG emissions reduction target by itself.
“Even with these savings,” he cautions, “the corporate carbon footprint may be on the order of 5,300 tonnes. Using the Pacific Carbon Trust price of $25 per tonne for offsets, the city’s offset purchases may run about $133,000.”
However, the carbon tax refund under CARIP can cover this cost. Thus, Adamson says, the purchasing of offsets to achieve carbon neutrality is not expected to have an impact on the operating budget for the city.
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