Pacific Carbon Trust will not receive city money

By Andrea Klassen - Kamloops This Week Updated: June 19, 2013 4:27 PM

The city may have failed to meet an ambitious carbon neutrality target, but the Pacific Carbon Trust won’t be getting $226,000 of Kamloops’ money.  According to the terms of the Climate Action Charter the city singed (sic) in 2007, Kamloops should be paying the carbon-offsetting organization $25 for each of the 9.060 tonnes of greenhouse gasses it produced last year. But, the provincial government has given cities that signed the charter but didn’t achieve carbon neutrality in five years the option to claim they are “making progress” towards their goals. Governments that pick that option, as Kamloops did, will have to continue working on projects to reduce the greenhouse gases produced during city operations — and also get to keep a more than $200,000 carbon-tax rebate they receive annually for signing the charter. Few councillors expressed much support for paying Pacific Carbon Trust, which came under fire this spring after B.C.’s auditor general released a report saying its offset programs aren’t credible. “When [money] goes off to the carbon trust, I have a whole lot of problems with seeing results in our community,” said Coun. Marg Spina. “To me it’s a bit of a shell game.” Other councillors agreed. Coun Tina Lange suggested the money could go to improving air quality downtown, while Coun. Nancy Bepple wants to see the carbon-tax rebates used to fund transit. City environmental-services manager Jen Fretz said it’s possible the city will have to pay for its 2013 emissions, but said she expects the government will offer more relief from charter commitments.