Alberta pledges $1.4 billion for industry climate change initiatives

James Wood
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Canada’s NDP government is creating a new $1.4-billion fund to help industry reduce greenhouse gas emissions through innovation and technology.

The biggest chunk of the funding, which will be doled out over seven years, sees $440 million earmarked for oilsands projects that will help companies increase production while reducing emissions.

The new fund will also see $225 million available across sectors for projects that support climate change technology, $240 million for industrial energy-efficiency measures, $63 million for bioenergy, and $400 million in loan guarantees to support efficiency and renewable-energy measures.

“There’s a basket of programs here,” Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said at a news conference at McDougall Centre.

“And what we’re trying to do is make sure that there’s something at every level to push that innovation forward.”

The funding comes primarily from revenue collected through Canada’s economywide carbon tax — introduced as part of the NDP’s ambitious plan to reduce the province’s Canada-leading carbon footprint — and levy on large industrial emitters.

The previous Progressive Conservative government introduced a levy on large emitters such as oilsands plants and utilities in 2007 that brought more than $740 million into a climate change and emissions-management fund. About $327 million had been allocated to emissions-reduction projects.

Phillips, who made the announcement Tuesday with Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous and Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd, said the new program is different because it takes a “whole-of-the-economy view” and because the levy on industrial operations is changing.

The government will release details of its new output-based allocation system, which is intended to reward facilities with lower emissions based on sector-specific performance standards, later this week.

full story at http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/alberta-unveils-new-innovation-program