Schools to get carbon cash

By Mario Bartel - Burnaby NewsLeader Published: April 09, 2012 4:00 PM

Burnaby School Board chair Larry Hayes has been appointed by the BC School Trustees Association to help the Ministry of Education allocate money from its new Energy Efficient Capital Account to energy efficient projects by school districts across the province.  Hayes will work with the Ministry to develop a formula for distributing the money that comes from carbon offset fees charged to school boards. Previously those funds had been deposited into the Pacific Carbon Trust and then distributed to third parties such as Encana Corporation to help reduce its carbon emissions. Environment Minister Terry Lake announced the change to the program last week. The new capital account will make $5 million available to school districts for energy efficient projects that will lower their carbon emissions. That’s good news for B.C. schools, according to BCSTA president Michael McEvoy. “This funding will allow us to invest in energy efficiencies for our schools that will save energy, save money and improve the environment for our students now and into the future.” When school districts were mandated to become carbon neutral, or otherwise purchase carbon offsets for every tonne of carbon emissions they produce, the fee for those offsets was set at approximately $11 per student. That amounts to more than $400,000 paid by the Burnaby school district over the past two years. At its annual general meeting last April, the BCSTA had passed a resolution calling for the carbon offset fees to be reinvested solely in board of education projects. “I am pleased the government has responded positively to our advocacy,” said McEvoy. School boards will also no longer have to pay the costs, estimated at about 82 cents per student, for the SMARTTool software that is used to calculate and report carbon emissions.