Environment

 Industry Partners


Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan


Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.

Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:



Author(s): Karen Haugen-Kozyra
Publication Date: January 1, 2004
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar 2004
Country: Canada

Summary:

Climate change refers to a change in long-term climate patterns. Governments are designing policies and programs that enable markets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to set GHG reduction targets and emission caps, allow targets to be met through market-based strategies such as emissions trading, and have binding consequences for those signatory industrialized nations that do not meet their Kyoto target. Today, Canada and Alberta are in the mid-stages of designing both an offset and emissions trading framework. Two cooperative systems include a Large Final Emitter (LFE) Emissions Trading System (a cap and trade system where allowance or permits can be traded) and an offset system (a form of credit-based emissions trading). GHG offset credits can be generated when a producer makes a practice change that results in either a removal or reduction of GHG emissions. Valid GHG offset credits can only be created through projects that meet certain conditions and are approved by a regulatory authority. The goal of the federal and provincial offsets system is to have rules in place by 2005/2006 that would allow for a more transparent, lower cost approach to generating offsets from agriculture, forestry, and other sectors. The availability of certified offsets will allow regulated companies to meet their GHG reduction target at the least possible cost. It will essentially delay internal technological changes. Before producers decide to change management practices to sell GHG offsets, they should consider market uncertainties such as baseline, price of carbon and ownership. Any offset project must be able to answer whether or not the GHG reductions are measurable, clearly owned, permanent, surplus, real, verifiable, or additional. In today’s carbon market, GHG offsets are selling from $1 to $3 US per tonne of GHG emissions. Experts expect this price to increase between 2008 and 2010. Canada has put a ceiling of $15 per tonne. In Alberta, the landowner owns the carbon in the soil. In the case of reduction credits, ownership is in the hands of the initiator of the reduction/removal practice unless otherwise stipulated by contract. It is important for producers who initiate actions to reduce or remove emissions to get signed contracts with other possible claimants as to what portion of the reductions/removals they own and have the right to sell. Participating in projects today can be a risky business, but there are a number of hedging strategies buyers and sellers can use to mitigate some of the risks. The trick is to identify the risks, understand them, and address them through contract-based strategies. Until the rules for offsets are firmly established, the amount of money to be made is limited due to the high transaction and administrative costs needed to develop contracts.

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