Alberta's Carbon Market
Offsets are one of the mechanisms regulated entities can use to reach compliance under the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation. These offsets must be Alberta based and meet a number of criteria in order to be used to reach compliance. An offset must originate from a voluntary action in a non-regulated sector or operation. Additional criteria include:
- Result from actions taken on or after January 1, 2002;
- Occur on or after January 1, 2002;
- Be real, demonstrable, quantifiable;
- Not be required by law;
- Have clearly established ownership;
- Be counted once for compliance purposes.
- Be verified by a qualified third party; and,
- Have occurred in Alberta.
These are minimum criteria. It is important to note that meeting these criteria does not guarantee that an offset will be eligible for compliance use.
In Alberta, offset credits per se will not be issued by the government. Rather, regulated entities can submit potential offsets and related reports with their annual compliance report under the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation. These reports will be reviewed with the compliance report as a whole and the use of those particular offsets accepted by Alberta Environment or not.
For more detailed information about Alberta's Carbon market and its protocols, visit the Carbon Offset Solutions website.
