Canada plans to steadily ramp up its price on carbon, reaching C$170 ($132) a tonne by 2030 compared with C$30 now, as part of its plan to fight climate change, the Liberal government said on Friday.
Canada, long lambasted by environmentalists for missing a string of emissions targets, is relying heavily on the measure to help meet 2030 commitments. Starting in 2023, the price will go up by C$15 a year until 2030.
“The increasing price will make cleaner options more affordable and discourage pollution-intensive investments,” said the 79-page plan.
Canada, a vast cold country that is also a major crude exporter, has long struggled to control emissions of greenhouse gases that are widely blamed for global warming.
The proposed carbon price hike is likely to be enormously unpopular in the energy-producing provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have already been hard hit by low prices and production bottlenecks. The Liberals won no seats in either province in an election last year.
The document also said Ottawa was proposing to limit the scope of a proposed clean fuel standard to cover only liquid fossil fuels, like gasoline, diesel and oil, rather than liquid, gaseous and solid fuels as initially planned. ($1=$1.28 Canadian) 29dk2902l