Canada gives provinces 2 years to adopt carbon pricing

Canada’s federal government is giving its provinces two years to adopt policies to put a price on carbon dioxide, before federal officials step in and implement their own system.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons about the plan Monday, saying that the provincial plans must abide by a federally determined “floor price.”

{mosads}“If neither price nor cap and trade is in place by 2018, the government of Canada will implement a price in that jurisdiction,” Trudeau said, according to CBC News.

Trudeau’s liberal government, which took charge after last year’s parliamentary elections, has been pushing nationwide carbon pricing in recent months to fight climate change and abide by Canada’s pledges under the Paris climate change agreement.

Canada promised under that accord to cut its greenhouse gases 30 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.

Trudeau wants to set the federal minimum carbon price at C$10 ($7.62) per metric ton, and rise $10 per year through 2022 to $50 ($38.11) per ton.

If a province chooses a cap-and-trade approach, it must be designed to reach similar emissions cuts as a carbon tax and as Canada’s nationwide policy, CBC said.

Conservative Member of Parliament Ed Fast, the top member of the opposition for the environment, called Trudeau’s approach a “sledgehammer” for provinces.

“Here, he lowers the boom on the provinces and said, ‘I’m not going to cooperate with you. It’s my way or the highway,’ ” Fast said in Parliament.