The first item for discussion was the Community Energy and Emissions Plan , which has been finalized and is now available online or in print upon request at the municipal office.
The township will continue its partnership with Central Manitoulin for climate action and hopes to work with other townships and First Nations communities as well.
Committee member Chris Theijsmeijer spoke about carbon credits, to increase understanding on how they work and how the township might be able to benefit from these.
In 2015, Canada signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement, a legally binding, international agreement in which most countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas .
That $40 per tonne is going to rise to $170 per tonne by 2030.
The idea is to have people use or produce less carbon dioxide; it’s a way of punishing people who use a lot of carbon dioxide while rewarding people who are either absorbing carbon or using less.
Gas prices are also affected by inflation so the carbon price affects construction costs, food delivery, manufacturing and any kind of heating fuel like oil, propane or natural gas.
“There’s the natural asset carbon credit as well so you can register forest, wetlands, fields, or basically anything that’s going to absorb carbon.
“Once you are registered and approved, you can start selling that as a credit into the market.
“There will be a baseline amount they’re allowed to produce greenhouse gases or CO2 up to,” he continued.
The idea is that you’re going to continue polluting but by investing the money in other areas you can try to make up for the fact you’re producing a lot of GHGs,” he said.
You can get a renewable energy certificate for having a green energy source such as the wind turbines in M’Chigeeng First Nation, the hydro station in Kagawong or a large solar array.
He summed up by saying a new lens needs to be applied to all the decisions Billings is making.
“We can look at our natural asset inventory, at our natural spaces and ask how much forest do we have on this land? Can we use that then to apply for some carbon credits? There’s going to be a lot more green investments.
“I think it’s more important to get it out to the community as a whole so people do have an understanding of what’s happening toward climate change and carbon credits is just a small part of it, but it is the future.