Alberta is on track to have the highest carbon prices in the country by 2020. That’s according to a new study that compared the carbon taxes and linked cap-and- trade systems of B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission found that as 30 per cent of B.C.’s economy isn’t covered, its $30 per tonne tax works out to be more like $21. Alberta’s will cover 78 per cent of the economy in four years, meaning it will be more than $23.
Quebec’s cap-and-trade carbon market is the most comprehensive at 85 per cent, and with everything factored in, its effective price will work out to be $18 a tonne by 2020. Ontario is just a few cents behind that.
Emissions trading credits were also factored in with price and coverage.
