The Government of British Columbia recently announced that it has created a CleanBC Industry Fund that will invest the money raised through carbon taxes on projects throughout the province. The province has put $12.5 million into the fund and expects that additional contributions from industry will raise the total fund value to more than $55 million this year.
Provincial funding will support a range of projects throughout B.C., including new electro-coagulation technology at Harmac Pacific’s employee-owned pulp mill in Nanaimo. The project will improve the waste-treatment process and reduce the use of natural gas to power a bio-mass boiler on site.
“The CleanBC Industry Fund is helping Harmac Pacific improve the way we operate our pulp mill by moving away from fossil fuels and reducing our emissions,” said Levi Sampson, president, Harmac Pacific. “The investment from the Province will help us treat mill waste more efficiently using cleaner technology while supporting good local jobs in Nanaimo.”
Harmac Pacific’s Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp mill near Nanaimo, B.C.
This year’s initial slate of CleanBC Industry Fund projects is expected to reduce approximately 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) over the next decade – roughly the same as taking 250,000 cars off the road for a year. Additional projects will be announced in early 2020 following signing of funding agreements.
To be eligible for funding, CleanBC Industry Fund applicants must have emissions over 10,000 tonnes of CO2e per year and be a reporting facility under the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act. Successful projects were chosen based on a competitive process and an evaluation of detailed project plans, business cases and the potential to cost-effectively reduce emissions.
CleanBC is the province’s pathway to a more prosperous, balanced and sustainable future. It was developed in collaboration with the BC Green Party caucus, and supports the commitment in the Confidence and Supply Agreement to implement climate action to meet B.C.’s emission targets.
The next Request for Proposals (RFPs) is expected to open in early 2020. Proposals will be evaluated based on criteria described in the RFP, and funding will be awarded to the highest-ranked projects, subject to funding availability. For a Proposal to be considered for funding, an applicant must clearly demonstrate that they meet the requirements as set out in the RFP.
