The Canadian province of British Columbia yesterday began putting its money where its mouth is on the issue of climate change. Residents of the province, which is generally the most progressive in the nation on environmental issues, began paying a tax on carbon-based fuels at a rate of $10 per ton of greenhouse gases generated.
The tax is applied to gasoline, diesel, natural gas and home heating fuel, and it will rise $5 per ton in each of the next four years, unitl hitting $30 per ton in 2012.
The government has said the tax will be revenue-neutral, returning all funds to citizens through tax reductions on incomes and businesses.
Ian Bruce, a climate-change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, told CBC News he believes the tax will be effective in prompting changes in the energy industry.
"We’ll start to see more things like wind power [and] more solar power for home heating, these solutions we haven’t seen in Canada because we haven’t had a carbon tax," he said.
Canada, under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative goverment, is failing to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, despite regional efforts such as this carbon tax.
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