The 21 member
Climate Action Team made a few recommendations which include raising the carbon tax in 2012 if necessary from it's planned figure. (The carbon tax rate is expected to triple from 2.3 cents per litre of gasoline by 2012).
They believe that higher rates must be imposed to achieve the province's greenhouse gas reduction targets. With the current plan, BC hopes to cut 1/3 in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 but according to the Climate Action Team, the current planned rate will take BC only 73% of the way to achieving its goal.
They say that the tax needs to be expanded to include other untaxed industrial emissions or those emissions be taken into account via a
cap-and-trade system. They ask for greater efficiency in transportation and use of rail when moving freight; the need to move away from dumping garbage in landfills which generates methane gas.
They also outlined interim targets to ensure the 2020 goals are met:
- By 2012 emissions should decline to 5% below 2007 levels. And houses and buildings should have a energy efficiency rating when they're sold.
- By 2016 emissions should decline to 15-18% below 2007 levels. And publicly funded buildings should have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (and by 2020 that should be expanded to include all new houses).
The
report is available until October 6th for public viewing at
LiveSmartBC.ca
Source: Article by Jeff Nagel titled "BC advised to hike carbon tax"
