Saskatchewan will have a carbon offset program available by 2021.
The government is consulting on how best to develop a program it promised in its Prairie Resiliency climate change strategy.
Farmers and ranchers could benefit from an offset program by receiving credit or payments for sequestering emissions. University of Saskatchewan agricultural economist Tristan Skolrud has said an offset program also comes with some concerns, such as how sequestration would be measured and verified and how the market would work.
In Alberta, for example, aggregators collect the credits and sell them to large emitters who have to be under a cap.
Saskatchewan says it will have three compliance options available to emitters by 2021: offset credits, best performance credits and payment into the provincial technology fund.
It is currently consulting on the offset system with the goal of implementation in 2020 and credits available in 2021.
Sector specific meetings are being held through the summer, and in fall a multi-sector plenary will lead to the final decisions. Cattle producers were to hear an update June 10 at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association meeting.
