May 2021
Our Clean Future strategy
In partnership with Yukon First Nations, transboundary Indigenous groups and Yukon municipalities, the Yukon territorial government developed the Our Clean Future strategy on September 14, 2020. The strategy is designed to prioritize key areas over the next 10 years to respond to climate change. The main goals are to:
- reduce Yukon’s greenhouse gas emissions
- ensure Yukoners have access to reliable, affordable and renewable energy
- adapt to the impacts of climate change; and
- build a green economy.
By 2030, the strategy has a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% lower than 2010 levels. To achieve this goal, the provincial government aims to cut the use of diesel for power generation in off-grid communities by 30%, generate 40% of heat by way of renewable energy sources, and put up to 6,000 electric vehicles on Yukon roads. The provincial government proposes to establish intensity-based targets for mines in 2022.
Carbon pricing
The Yukon government has not implemented its own carbon pricing regime. As a result, the federal price on carbon came into effect in Yukon on July 1, 2019, under the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (the Act). The federal carbon pricing program applies in Yukon at a rate of $40 per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2021 and will rise annually until it reaches $50 per tonne in 2022.
The Act has the following features:
- For larger industrial facilities, an output-based pricing system for emissions-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries applies. It covers facilities emitting 50,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year or more, with the ability for smaller EITE facilities that emit 10,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year or more to voluntarily opt0in to the system over time.
- A fuel charge applied to fossil fuels, generally paid by registered distributors (fuel producers and distributors).
Yukon has been granted targeted relief on aviation fuel in the territory, diesel for electricity generation in remote communities, and partial relief for greenhouse operators. Federally exempt industries include commercial fishing and agriculture.
Federal carbon price rebate
The federal government will return revenues from the carbon levy to Yukon in the form of a transfer. The rebate framework is outlined in the Yukon Government Carbon Price Rebate [PDF]. The Yukon Government Carbon Price Rebate Act [PDF] (the Rebate Act) came into effect on April 30, 2019, upon assent. The Rebate Act:
- establishes a new revolving fund for money that the Yukon Government receives under the fuel charge provisions of the Act
- provides for the rebating of that money, on a revenue-neutral basis, to individual Yukoners, Yukon businesses (including a special rebate for mining businesses), Yukon First Nation governments, and Yukon municipalities
- enables a special system for rebating any amounts that the Yukon Government may receive in the future under the large-scale industrial emissions provisions of the Act
The Rebate Act also implements the Carbon Price Rebate General Regulation [PDF] (the Regulation). The regulation lays out the rebate allocation amounts for businesses, Yukon First Nations, municipalities, and individuals.