Advocates want Ontario’s carbon tax spent on renewables
Posted Jan 15, 2023 09:22:00 PM.
In 2023, the government of Ontario is taking over the collection of carbon taxes from large industries such as steel mills, cement plants and car manufacturers, expecting to generate $2 Billion in revenue between by 2030.
How the government intends on spending that revenue, however, has yet to be determined.
Lana Goldberg, Ontario climate program manager with Environmental Defense, said on The Sam Laprade Show that extra revenue needs to be used to invest in renewables.
According to Goldberg, there are more than 60 locations across Ontario that wind and solar projects could be developed, including offshore opportunities.
“Studies show that [wind] can replace a lot of the energy being produced by the gas plants,” said Goldberg. “And now we have all this storage technology that allow wind and solar to be stored for the times they are needed during high demand periods.”
Goldberg is also in support of some funds going towards reducing the emissions of industries such as steel and cement, but is opposed to support going to oil and gas companies.
“One thing we need to be mindful of is that we can't be giving the money back to fossil fuel companies who are just continuing to use oil and gas in their operation,” said Goldberg.
Just as the provinces energy needs are quickly rising, the Pickering Nuclear Generation Station, which supplies about 14 per cent of the provinces energy, is set to retire in 2026.
To fill the energy gap, the province is looking to ramp up natural gas generation. According to Environmental Defence, greenhouse gas emissions from Ontario gas plants are “set to increase by nearly 400 per cent by 2030.”
“The best use of the funds would be to invest in renewable energy projects like wind and solar to ensure that Ontario is replacing the many polluting gas plants being used to generate electricity,” said Goldberg. “Rather than building new gas plants, which is currently the plan.”
Listen to full interview with Lana Goldberg on The Sam Laprade Show below.
