Under the Climate Change Plan for Canada, agriculture, forestry and landfills will represent important future investment opportunities for businesses in Manitoba. Appropriate investment in these three areas will create offset credits available for purchase in the domestic emissions trading system. An offset is an emission reduction that occurs in a sector not covered in the domestic trading system, but that can be sold into the system. By ensuring that offsets can be traded, a mechanism is created that provides financial incentives for new actions dedicated to sequestering carbon in agricultural soils; managing forests more sustainably and reducing deforestation; and capturing and utilizing landfill methane to generate energy.
There is little doubt that opportunities do exist in all these areas. Manitoba's agricultural sector is active in exploring offsets created through proper carbon management strategies. The forestry industry recognizes the co-benefits of forest management techniques that sequester carbon and provide new climate change adaptation options. And a recent nation-wide assessment of potential landfill gas recovery opportunities carried out for Environment Canada ranked Winnipeg's Brady Road Landfill as having the highest potential for income generation, emission reduction provided at the lowest cost. Manitoba Hydro, the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba are examining the best way to implement this project.
Speakers - Kyoto Mechanisms and the Manitoba Business Sector Seminar (March 2003)
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