{"id":729674,"date":"2026-06-11T11:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/729674\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T11:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:49:11","slug":"holt-drops-promise-of-stricter-carbon-price-for-big-polluters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/729674\/","title":{"rendered":"Holt drops promise of stricter carbon price for big polluters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier Susan Holt has officially abandoned her election commitment to make New Brunswick\u2019s largest industrial plants pay more to emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n

Holt welcomed news that the federal government is giving all provinces a break on its industrial carbon price standard to match a deal signed with Alberta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pleased to see that the federal government didn\u2019t just do a special deal for Alberta and extended that program across the country so that we would have the same playing field for competitiveness,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n

During the 2024 election campaign, Holt said the industrial carbon price on the province\u2019s 15 biggest emitters \u201cneeds to be robust.\u201d<\/p>\n

But applying the new Alberta pricing standard in New Brunswick will make the system less robust, not more.<\/p>\n

Asked about her campaign commitment, Holt said, \u201cWe\u2019re comfortable with what the federal government has proposed for Alberta and for all provinces, so we\u2019re going to see that implemented here, and that\u2019s where we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | \u2018That\u2019s where we are\u2019: Ottawa lets N.B. off carbon-price hook:\"\"<\/p>\n

Alberta carbon price deal gives N.B. a break, too<\/p>\n

Holt drops promise of \u2018robust\u2019 emissions tax after Carney extends terms to other provinces<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an energy agreement with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that lowers the industrial carbon price the province must reach, and gives it an additional 10 years to get there.<\/p>\n

Carney said on May 20 that he would extend the same terms to other provinces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do it fast so we have one consistent, predictable approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In fact, the new rates and timelines took effect for all provinces May 15, according to the federal government\u2019s carbon pricing website.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I heard the deal with Alberta, I started to despair, because I knew that that would spread like a contagion across the country,\u201d Green Party Leader David Coon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already a pretty weak system. That\u2019s why the premier, during the campaign, in trying to sound green, said she was going to create a more robust system. But clearly she\u2019s going to be very pleased with an even weaker system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AGreen Party Leader David Coon said he worried that a carbon pricing deal with Alberta would have an impact on other provinces. (Tara King-Stewart\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The federal pricing standard required all provinces to reach a carbon price equal to $170 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n

Under the Alberta agreement, its price only has to hit $140 per tonne by 2040.<\/p>\n

The same terms now apply to all provinces.<\/p>\n

The federal change also immediately lowered this year\u2019s per-tonne price to $95 from $110.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Brunswick, like every other province, is going to slow down the rate at which its carbon price goes up, and it\u2019ll have to recalibrate its system a little bit,\u201d said Ross Linden-Fraser, a researcher with the Canadian Climate Institute, a policy think-tank.<\/p>\n

Holt suggested a lower price on emissions will help her government achieve its energy goals of keeping power rates affordable and promoting economic growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re hearing from New Brunswickers as their priorities,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now that\u2019s our focus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Irving Oil\u2019s Saint John refinery was the province\u2019s largest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2024, followed by three N.B. Power generating stations: the Belledune coal plant, the Coleson Cove plant that burns fuel oil, and the Bayside natural gas plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cN.B. Power\u2019s carbon compliance costs were higher in 2024 compared to 2023,\u201d utility spokesperson Tracey Stephenson said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She did not provide a dollar figure but said the higher costs were in part due to the carbon price hitting $80 per tonne in 2024.<\/p>\n

According to federal data, emissions were down at the Irving refinery in 2024, but increased at Belledune, Coleson Cove and Bayside.<\/p>\n

Under New Brunswick\u2019s output-based pricing system, created by the Higgs government to comply with federal requirements, each of the 15 biggest emitters in the province is given a performance standard linked to its rate of emissions relative to its production output.<\/p>\n

Emitters that stay below that standard earn carbon credits they can sell in a trading market, while emitters that exceed the standard must pay a charge to the province or purchase credits in the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SixThe Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John was the province’s top emitter of carbon dioxide in 2024, followed by some N.B. Power generating stations. (Mark Leger\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The latest data from 2024 shows that the number of carbon credits issued jumped to 80,346 from 25,319 the previous year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s good news for the facilities that are performing well because it means they’re getting some kind of reward from other facilities for performing well,\u201d Linden-Fraser said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the total emissions from the 15 big industrial plants increased from 5.9 million tonnes in 2023 to 6.4 million in 2024.<\/p>\n

Because the pricing standard is based on production output, the performance standard can move if the plant\u2019s output grows, allowing it to emit more greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

The province does not release the individual performance standards for each plant and does not disclose which plants earned and bought carbon credits, making it hard to tell exactly how the system is working.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmissions are going in the wrong direction but the system is satisfied at some level with the performance we\u2019re seeing, and that might be a sign that there\u2019s some good news behind the headlines,\u201d Linden-Fraser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might also be a sign the system is not that stringent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ManRoss Linden-Fraser, a policy analyst with the Canadian Climate Institute, said an increase in carbon-credit use is good news for plants that are performing well. (Jacques Poitras\/CBC)<\/p>\n

N.B. Power\u2019s fossil-fuel-emitting power plants had to generate more electricity in 2024 because of a long shutdown of the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and lower hydro generation, Stephenson said.<\/p>\n

That drove the utility\u2019s emissions up to 3.3 million tonnes from 2.7 million.<\/p>\n

That may explain why overall emissions were up even as some emitters like the Irving Oil Refinery reduced their emissions and potentially earned credits, Linden-Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s deal has three different ways of calculating the price in that province \u2014 the \u201cheadline\u201d price of $140, an \u201ceffective\u201d price based on how Alberta\u2019s system works and a price floor for its credits.<\/p>\n

Those don\u2019t necessarily translate easily into other provincial systems and could compromise the predictability of New Brunswick\u2019s carbon market that emitters rely on, Linden-Fraser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge number of unanswered questions raised by the terms of the agreement and that lack of clarity will be tricky for any province that\u2019s trying to figure out what to make of the agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be tricky for facilities that are trying to figure out what they should expect from carbon pricing systems in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Susan Holt has officially abandoned her election commitment to make New Brunswick\u2019s largest industrial plants pay more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-729674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}