Corporate executives at companies ranging from the Salt Spring Coffee Co. to West Coast Air have made much ado recently about their carbon neutral status.
B.C.’s Minister of State for Climate Action John Yap wants to add another: B.C.’s entire public service.
Yap told Business in Vancouver that includes all B.C. schools, universities, hospitals and government offices.
The price tag for the initiative is less clear because it will be calculated once the 2010 calendar year ends but will likely be around $13 million.
Yap expects the government will have to buy carbon credits to reach this commitment. That’s even if the entire public service and government-funded facilities cut unnecessary energy, paper and vehicle usage and chop out other wasteful habits.
“The approach is as follows. We’ll measure and know exactly what our carbon footprint is. We’ll reduce our emissions to the greatest extent possible,” Yap said. “What we’re not able to reduce – and we know that we can’t eliminate our footprint completely – we will offset by quality carbon offsets within the province.”
He said: “As a rule of thumb, the price of carbon offsets is about $20 per tonne.”
Yap expects that before buying offsets, the province will create 650,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.