$1 Billion in Provincial Government’s Cap-and-Trade Fund

Published on October 04, 2018

The Provincial Government of Ontario has approximately $1 billion dollars sitting unspent in the cap-and-trade fund. Although the exact amount of what is left in the fund is not known, Ontario’s environmental commissioner Dianne Saxe believes there still remains $1 billion dollars in the fund - as she has not noticed any evidence of the money being spent since the end of March. Saxe also believes that the winding down of cap-and-trade shouldn’t cost so much as to leave less than the bulk of the $1 billion remaining in the fund.  

The money was collected on a legal basis of it only being spent on initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers believes some of the funding will be going towards fighting lawsuits that arise from the cancellation of cap-and-trade instead. The Environment Minister Rod Phillips assures that the money will be used for the purpose it was collected, as well as promising to create a plan this fall to combat climate change. He also affirms that the plan will include an ‘emissions reduction fund’ which will emerge without a carbon-tax model as its foundation.

The provincial government has stated that they are unable to indicate exactly how much money is left in the fund until all programs wind up, and that they have $5 million earmarked in compensation for companies that invested in now obsolete cap-and-trade allowances.

Additionally, environmental groups led by Greenpeace are suing the province of Ontario, stating that the cancellation of cap-and-trade needed to have Ontarians be consulted first, in order for it to remain legal.