Canadian mining industry endorses national carbon price

Canadian mining firms have been working on a variety of emissions-reducing initiatives in recent years, including an LNG truck project launched by Teck Resources Ltd. last year. PHOTO: Teck

OTTAWA—The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has thrown its support behind the movement to establish a national price on carbon.

Made up of a wide range of resource extraction firms, including some of the largest names in the Canadian mining industry, such as Teck Resources Ltd., Barrick Gold Corp. and Cameco Corp., MAC is calling for a broad-based carbon price applied to all sectors of the Canadian economy.

“Today, one of Canada’s largest industries is coming out in support of a carbon price, identifying it as the most effective and efficient means of driving emissions reductions and making real progress in the global fight against climate change,” Pierre Gratton, the association’s president and CEO, said.

“MAC’s support of a carbon price is guided by our principles for climate change policy design, and is based on 16 years of our members’ continuous efforts to reduce emissions through technology and innovation and become more energy efficient,” Gratton added.

Along with the announcement, the industry group released a policy document highlighting the mining sector’s recommendations for establishing a carbon price. The main tenets of the plan include:

• Establish a broad-based carbon price that is applicable to all sectors of the Canadian economy.
• Be revenue neutral by investing revenues generated through carbon pricing into the development of lower emission technologies to manage the transition to a lower carbon future, including climate adaptation, and to ensure a level playing field for trade-exposed industries that are emission intensive.
• Address competitiveness and carbon leakage concerns across all sectors to prevent declines in investment, employment, tax revenues and trade.
• Be predictable, flexible and sensitive to changing economic conditions and geographic circumstances, to enable consumers and industry to adapt and to treat regions fairly.
• Be simple, complementary and effective to ensure that a national climate change regime works in tandem with existing provincial schemes, avoids duplication, and is simple to understand and administer.
• Support investments in the development and implementation of technologies that lower emissions through capital investments, which could include public-private partnerships.
• Recognize early action, acknowledging that some companies have been proactive in reducing their climate footprints and that several provinces have already established climate change mitigation regimes.

Read the mining association’s full policy stance here.