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Hurricane season officially begins on June 1 and ends November 30. The Atlantic hurricane region includes the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just released their hurricane forecast for the six-month season. It is expected that it will be a near-normal hurricane season with 4 to 8 Hurricanes, including 1 to 4 major hurricanes.
The Ontario government has ambitious climate change action plans including the elimination of natural gas heating by 2030 and a minimum of 12% of all new vehicles to be electric by 2025. This will help meet the target of completely eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Meeting these targets through subsidies and rebates will be expensive. Where will the money come from to pay for these plans?
Ontario’s new cap and trade compliance begins on January 1, 2017. Details of the program was posted on May 19, 2016. The government has indicated that the funds collected (over $1.8-billion per year) will go towards greenhouse gas reduction efforts.
Cap and trade will affect each business differently. Free allowances will be available, however, facilities exceeding their free carbon dioxide (CO2) allowances must purchase additional allowances at the auction. Similarly, facilities that emit less than their permitted allowances may sell their unused free allowances at the auction. The first auction is scheduled for March 2017.
