Canada's decision to put a dollar value on carbon emissions will go a long way toward improving energy efficiency and boosting innovation in the country's industrial sectors, experts say.
Companies that exceed their emission limits have the option of paying into a technology fund that will promote the development and deployment of clean technologies. To avoid such payments, they can attempt to reduce emissions internally or participate in a domestic or international emissions-trading scheme.
Environmental groups criticised the government's plan, however, for failing to meet the requirement of the Kyoto Protocol, which called for a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2012 that is 6% below 1990 levels. Instead, Canada is promising to reduce emissions by 20% from 2006 levels by 2020 – a much less aggressive target, but one which Baird said strikes a balance between the status quo and the need for environmental action.
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