BC Government, Carbon Offsets, and School Districts

(Excerpts from the debate on education in the Legislative Assembly, School district carbon offsets go to private corporations . May 17, 2010)

R. Fleming: I wanted to ask the minister if she's had discussions with her colleagues about how the Pacific Carbon Trust might be modified so that instead of money flowing from public sector organizations like schools, hospitals and other entities — the 130 PSOs that there are — to the private sector, whether the Pacific Carbon Trust might be modified over time in the coming years to actually invest public sector moneys, pooled moneys from the SUCH [public] sector into greening the infrastructure of schools, for example. Has she had those kinds of discussions?

Hon. M. MacDiarmid: …starting this year they do have to purchase offsets, and it's at a cost of $25 per tonne of emissions. The estimate this year is that it will be about 235,000 tonnes, and that will mean that they will be spending about $5.9 million on offsets.

R. Fleming: …wouldn't it be a better idea to allow school districts, along with health authorities and other public sector organizations, to apply and receive money to retrofit their own buildings, to actually reduce their carbon footprints and their emission levels

I mean, the whole point of this exercise should be to green schools, but here we have, under the current system, the prospect of 60 school districts, most of which are in deficit right now, most of which are looking at losing teaching and learning resources and face a three-year funding horizon that is very challenging and difficult for them.... They're not in a very good position to set aside money for minor capital improvements and to replace things like fossil fuel–based heating systems that they may use, which they should do if we care about the environment. That is the goal here.

In fact, as the minister is aware, the carbon offsets are actually.... Pacific Carbon Trust gets $25 a tonne from school districts for these offsets. I don't know how much they then buy them for in the private sector, but they're literally transferring money to things like Lafarge cement fuel-switching projects or greenhouse growers in the Fraser Valley where they're putting up energy curtains.

There are a number of spas. I don't know if the minister is aware of all of them, but Westin Whistler Resort and Spa will be receiving money from school districts, from classroom resources, from trustees that are figuring out budgets and paying this money, which is then transferred over into the private sector. The Marriott in Whistler is another one. Sun Peaks Lodge, Coast Hillcrest. Hotels have done very well by this system. It's literally money coming from schools going in to green hotels rather than to green school buildings.