The Government of New Brunswick has released its Carbon Pricing Plan and announced that the plan has been submitted for federal government approval. The province’s plan is unique in that, since April 1, 2018, a portion of the previously existing provincial fuel tax levied on gasoline and diesel fuel has been converted into a “carbon levy”, as opposed to introducing a new tax or levy. Currently, the proportion of fuel tax allocated and directed into a “Climate Change Fund” is equivalent to the federal framework requirement of $10 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
In addition, New Brunswick has reaffirmed its intention to accept the federal framework’s output based pricing system for large industrial emitters and electricity generators that emit over 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
However, it remains to be seen whether this somewhat novel approach to carbon pricing will be acceptable to the federal government.