Sept 19 (Askume) – Canada can meet its 2030 emissions target without imposing a carbon tax on consumers, some analysts say, as the Liberal government faces growing political pressure to abandon the tax .
The tax has long been criticised by the opposition Conservative Party, which has vowed to “abolish the tax” if it comes to power, butRecently support has waned, even among former supporters of the policy.
The carbon tax is designed to help Canada reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions by 40%-45% from 2005 levels by 2030. The next election will be in October 2025, which will see the liberalism of Prime Minister Justin TrudeauWill lose badly to the Conservatives .
Even if Ottawa eliminates the carbon tax consumers pay on gasoline and other fuels, Canada can rely on other policies to meet its 2030 goals , said Mark Zacharias, executive director of the Canadian Clean Energy think tank.
The portion of the carbon tax that applies to industrial sites such as oil sands mines and cement plants is less controversial than the consumption tax. Zacharias said the industrial tax, along with proposed limits on oil and gas emissions and regulations to reduce methane pollution , would play a key role in reducing emissions.
According to the Canadian Climate Research Institute, only 8%-9% of Canada’s planned reduction in consumer taxes by 2030, or 19 million to 22 million tonnes, will be achieved.
“The consumer carbon tax remains a political liability right now, and I don’t know if anyone can recover from the damage and misinformation it has caused,” Zacharias said.
Conservatives blame the carbon tax for causing inflation, even though the tax was designed to be revenue neutral and about 80 per cent of Canadians receive more in tax refunds than they pay in taxes.
A consumer carbon tax would apply to emissions from Canadian transportation and buildings, but government subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles and building renovations could also help reduce emissions from those industries, said Dale Bogin, executive vice-president of the Climate Institute.
Katherine Harrison, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, said Canada cannot meet its 2030 goal by targeting large industrial polluters alone.
Industrial taxes also have the potential to become political targets, Bogin said.
British Columbia’s left-wing Premier David Abbey said last week that he would scrap the province’s carbon tax if Ottawa dropped its legal demands. The same day, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he supports a different approach to tackling climate change when asked if he supports a consumer carbon tax, but did not elaborate.
The Conservatives have not yet said whether they will continue to impose an industrial carbon tax once they come to power.
