Alberta "Going Green!" - Renewables, New Coal Tax, But Strangely, No Tax On Tar Sands Operations

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One of most aggressive campaigns to fight global warming is happening in a Canadian province. There’s just one problem: the same place is also home to some of the dirtiest oil in the world.

Alberta is boosting its use of renewable energy, closing power plants that burn coal and in January increased its tax on carbon emissions by 50 percent, moves that will help Canada curb emissions under the global Paris climate agreement. However, the province is also increasing output from its vast reserves of oil sands, a gooey fossil fuel that produces more than twice as much carbon dioxide during extraction and processing than the North American average.

This kind of dual personality underscores the dilemma faced by oil producers that are also seeking to control air pollution. Canada in 2011 pulled out of an earlier international climate deal, the Kyoto Protocol, after its oil sands drove up carbon emissions. Alberta’s newly increased carbon tax affects coal and natural gas-fired power plants, but doesn’t apply to its $36 billion oil-extraction industry. “The oil industry and the government of Alberta were pretty happy to throw the coal industry under the bus because it’s less important to our economy,” said Ian Hussey of the Parkland Institute, a research center at the University of Alberta.

The province in December held its first auction for renewable energy and is preparing to shutter six coal power plants. Its carbon tax on transportation and heating fuels jumped to C$30 ($23) a metric ton on Jan. 1, and promptly spurred a coal-to-gas fuel switch in Alberta, according to a Feb. 14 report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. But in terms of environmental benefits, it’s a wash, said Hussey. The reduced emissions from phasing out coal power are “almost exactly the same” as the increases he expects to see from increased oil production.

EDIT

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-26/one-of-world-s-dirtiest-oil-sources-wants-to-be-green-but-how

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1. Canada

Canada once again that progressive policy is not as important as the appearance of progressive policy. Anything that will allow them to stand in judgment of other countries.