Carbonfund.org Blog

As Canadians around the world celebrate their national holiday, their home and native land made the news on two big issues surrounding climate change.

The bad news is that the Great White North ranks dead last among G8 countries in the latest G8 Climate Scorecard by the World Wildlife Fund and insurance giant Allianz.  With some of the highest per-capita emissions in the world, Canada is also one of few G8 countries whose emissions are steadily increasing, due in large part to expansion of the tar sands projects.  While the United States moved up to 6th place (based on initiatives announced by the Obama administration), Germany and the UK topped the list with improvements to their emissions.  For more accurate emissions breakdown of the world’s 8 richest nations check out their scorecards on the Allianz website.

Meanwhile, regional initiatives in Canada aim to fix the problem, most notably British Columbia’s consumer carbon tax which ushered in its first anniversary today with a 50% increase.  The controversial tax –North America’s first – of $10.00 per metric ton carbon dioxide equivalent was first implemented last year in hopes of curbing the province’s carbon emissions and demand for fossil fuels.   This equated to an additional 2.41 cents per liter of gasoline at the pump.  The first anniversary increase implemented today pushes that tax up to 3.57 cents per liter and will rise again every year until reaching 7.32 cents in 2012.

While opinions are divided in British Columbia on the tax, the governing provincial Liberal Party that levied the tax last year was recently re-elected this past May for a third 4-year term.

Resources:
World Wildlife Fund – G8 Climate Scorecards
Allianz – Climate Agenda
CBC – B.C. carbon tax boosts prices at gas pump
NYTimes – British Columbia’s Carbon Tax Survives

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