A growing chorus of farm groups is calling on the federal government to implement a carbon credit trading system as the heat is turned up on the Kyoto Accord file.
The greenhouse gas reductions treaty becomes legally binding on Feb. 16 and, according to a recent report published in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Canada is poised to nearly double its financial commitment to the cause before that date.
The story says the prime minister’s office is considering devoting an additional $3 billion to help Canada achieve a 240 megatonne reduction in greenhouse gases by 2012. It would bring Ottawa’s total Kyoto commitment to $6.7 billion.
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Many farm groups hope the announcement includes a pledge to create a government-regulated system for trading in emissions reduction.
“Everyone is ready, we just need to have the rules,” said Ben Voss, president of Clear-Green Environmental, a Saskatoon firm that built a biogas demonstration plant in Cudworth, Sask., that converts hog manure into power.
His firm has generated an estimated $250,000 in carbon credits.
“We’re just sitting on the credits until we can sell them in Canada. It’s worth a huge amount of money to us, so we’re kind of suffering because we can’t sell them.”
A spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada refused to confirm the accuracy of the Globe and Mail report but he indicated something is definitely in the works.
“The cabinet will be asked to make some important decisions shortly,” said Chyslain Charron.
If change on the Kyoto file is pending, it has been a long time coming, said AgCert Canada managing director Len Eddy.
AgCert has built a business on the premise of selling carbon credits generated by agricultural operations to heavy polluters that have to meet specific Kyoto obligations. In the process the company has become the world’s largest trader of agricultural-based emissions reductions.
The Edmonton firm has developed an ISO-certified management system that measures and verifies carbon dioxide reductions on swine farms using environmentally friendly management practices.
The company has licensing agreements with hundreds of pig farmers in Canada, South America and Mexico who provide the firm with production data that allows AgCert to determine what volume of offsets their farms are generating.
While the firm has been able to produce a small stream of revenue from sales of Canadian offsets to Canadian companies, the credits are only fetching one-quarter the value that European firms are paying for AgCert’s South American carbon credits, which is about $10 per tonne.
“It’s tiny compared to what it should be,” said Eddy.
That’s because heavy polluters are buying credits on a voluntary basis for public relations purposes rather than using them as a means to offset their Kyoto obligations.
Eddy said if the federal government was serious about its Kyoto commitment there would already be an emissions reduction trading system in place. But after an impressive start, Ottawa’s enthusiasm on Kyoto seems to be waning.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s a tragedy. (Canadians) will pay dearly for their lack of movement on this file,” he said.
Heavy polluters will be forced to purchase offsets in the expensive international marketplace, while domestic farmers will be sitting on a pile of worthless carbon credits.
Voss expects to hear an announcement out of Ottawa in the next few months, but thinks the federal government will fall short of setting up a trading system that could weed out cheaters and frauds.
“That would be the best but I don’t think they’re going to go that far. I think they’re going to say, ‘Start trading and we’ll see how it goes.’ “
