We are pleased to announce the release of an Article 6 report published by Public Policy Forum, authored by Lisa DeMarco (Resilient LLP), Katie Sullivan (IETA), and Steve MacDonald (+SM). The report, entitled The Missing Article: How to Get Canada Back in the Game on Article 6, is available now on PPF’s website and sets out a pathway for Canada to maximize the opportunity and minimize the cost of energy transition through Article 6.
The Article 6.4 Supervisory Body (SB) has published guidance on activities involving removals under the Article 6.4 mechanism of the Paris Agreement (the Removals Guidance). The SB also published recommendations on the requirements for the development and assessment of Article 6.4 mechanism methodologies (the Methodology Requirements). Both recommendations will be presented for consideration and adoption by the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) at COP 28 starting later this month in Dubai, UAE. This bulletin highlights key information, guidance, and requirements provided by the SB in both the Removals Guidance and the Methodology Requirements. Removals Guidance Recommendation The Removals Guidance defines removals as the outcomes of processes to remove GHGs from the atmosphere through anthropogenic activities and destroy or durably store them. Requirements. The Removals Guidance provides the following requirements for activities involving removals under the Article 6.4 mechanism: Monitoring. Activity participants must monitor removals through appropriate application of quantification and estimation based on field measurements, remote sensing, measurement through instrumentation, and/or modelling. Post-crediting period monitoring, reporting, and remediation of reversals. Activity participants must undertake monitoring, reporting, verification, and remediation measures during the post-crediting monitoring period to confirm the continued existence of removals and to address any reversals of removals for which 6.4 carbon credits (6.4ERs) were issued during the active crediting period(s). The SB noted that 6.4ERs will not be issued for removals generated after the last active crediting period, including during the post-crediting monitoring period. Reporting. Activity participants must prepare monitoring reports after implementing monitoring operations and methods. These reports are to be prepared without a gap between two successive monitoring periods. The SB noted that methodologies will contain provisions specifying the minimum frequency of monitoring report submission, commensurate with the degree and nature of the risk of reversals. Accounting for removals. Removals eligible for crediting must exceed the applicable baseline determined in accordance with the Methodology Requirements and will be…
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change on Monday announced the release of the Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Government of Canada Self‑Review Assessment Framework (the Assessment Framework) and the Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Government of Canada Guidelines (the Guidelines). The Assessment Framework and Guidelines were jointly developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the Department of Finance Canada and are intended to support Canada’s 2009 commitment alongside other G20 countries to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies over the medium-term while providing targeted support for the poorest. The Assessment Framework also builds on Canada’s commitment under the Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition (the Glasgow Statement) in 2021 at COP 26 in Glasgow, to end new direct public support for international unabated fossil fuel, except in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with the 1.5°C warming limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement. This bulletin briefly summarizes key information and criteria provided in the Assessment Framework and Guidelines. Assessment Framework. ECCC noted that the Assessment Framework is the “first transparently published methodology worldwide” and that it will be used to determine which tax and non-tax measures constitute an “inefficient fossil fuel subsidy”. The Assessment Framework defines “measures” as including: (i) expenditure programs (i.e., grants, contributions, transfers); (ii) intramural research and development; (iii) tariff and duty reliefs; and (iv) tax expenditures that support fossil fuel consumption or that can be claimed by the fossil fuel sector and that represent alternatives to expenditure programs (i.e., tax credits, accelerated capital cost allowances, flow-through shares), and utilizes the World Trade Organization’s definition of “subsidy” as set out in Article 1.1 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The international carbon markets provisions of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement will have an…
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) today released the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (the Plan) under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (the Act; read our earlier bulletin on the Act here). The Plan sets out current actions, additional funding of $9.1B, and several new initiatives to meet Canada’s emissions reduction target of 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, as provided last year in an update to Canada’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement (read our earlier bulletin on Canada’s updated NDC targets here). The Plan also sets a new interim objective of reducing GHGs by 20% below 2005 levels by 2026, noting that this interim objective is not an official target akin to Canada’s 2030 NDC, but that progress towards achieving the objective will be a cornerstone of progress reports associated with the Plan in 2023, 2025, and 2027. This bulletin highlights key parts of the Plan and summarizes the newly announced funding and initiatives, across the following categories: Carbon pricing Clean fuels Clean growth funding Methane Buildings Electricity Heavy industry Oil and gas Transportation Agriculture Waste Nature-based solutions Clean technology and climate innovation Sustainable finance Jobs, skills, and communities Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched the Plan in an address at the GLOBE Forum in Vancouver earlier today. Carbon pricing. The Plan notes the measures undertaken to address economy-wide emissions including the federal fuel charge and the Output-Based Pricing System for industrial emitters under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Escalating the federal benchmark price to $170 by 2030 is meant to further support the 2030 targets of the federal government along with continued consultations on a possible border carbon adjustment (read our earlier bulletin here). Very significantly, the Plan puts forward the concept of investment approaches, like carbon contracts for differences, which enshrine future price levels in contracts between the federal government and low-carbon…
COP Presidency Publishes Climate Finance Delivery Plan The UK COP26 Presidency yesterday published the long-awaited Climate Finance Delivery Plan (the Delivery Plan) led by Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and German State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth. The Delivery Plan seeks to provide clarity on the commitment by developed countries to provide $100 billion in climate finance per year. The Delivery Plan is informed by recent OECD analysis to 2025, which indicates that by 2023 the $100 billion per year goal will be met and the mobilization of funds for climate finance is likely to surpass $100 billion each year afterwards. The Delivery Plan provides ten key actions that should be taken by developed countries to deliver on the $100 billion pledge, including: Increasing the scale of climate finance; Increasing finance for adaptation; Prioritizing grant-based financing for the poorest and most vulnerable; Addressing barriers in accessing climate finance; Strengthening the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement; Working with multilateral development banks to increase and improve climate finance; Improving the effectiveness of private finance mobilized; Reporting on collective progress transparently; Assessing and building on lessons learned; and Taking into account the broader financial transition needed to implement Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement (making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low GHG emissions and climate-resilient development). In 2009, developed countries first pledged to mobilize $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020. This goal was reaffirmed under the Paris Agreement in 2015. In June 2021, Canada pledged to double its international climate finance commitment to $5.3 billion. Germany has pledged to increase its climate finance to €6 billion per year by 2025. RBC Releases Canada Net-Zero Transition Report RBC recently released a report titled “The $2 Trillion Transition: Canada’s Road to Net Zero” (the Report), which analyzes the opportunities and…
