Question

How will carbon tax affect the forestry in Canada. Please elaborate your answer

Please answer this in detail.

Answer 1

Over the past 10 years, total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents, or CO2e) from the use of fossil fuel in the Canadian forest industry have been steadily declining, while energy consumption has remained relatively flat in recent years. The ability of the forest industry to generate its own electricity has reduced its dependence on fossil fuels, largely from bioenergy. Bioenergy continues to increase its share of the energy mix, representing 57% of the energy consumption of the forest industry in 2015, up from 49% in 2000 and 43% in 1990.

Technologies that reduce energy consumption and emissions of GHG provide significant environmental benefits and reduce manufacturers ' energy costs. It is expected that investments in these technologies will continue and accelerate as Canada fully implements carbon pricing and a Clean Fuel Standard. Considering that overall GHG emission reductions are likely to be offset by economic activity growth, GHG emissions and total energy consumption are likely to continue to decrease but at a slower rate.

There are two imminent threats that occur with dry conditions and standing dead trees. The first of these are pests and diseases that ravage the already stressed trees, which are now more likely to attack. It has been possible for the mountain pine beetle to extend its scope from B.C. The warmer winters allow it to flourish in Alberta across the Rockies. The second threat is announced every summer in Western Canada with socked-in red skies as the forest becomes a tinderbox, resulting in record wildfires. For years, some Canadians have hidden behind the myth that because of the presence of vast forests working as our personal atmosphere vacuums, the country is not a net emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. And it is true that, until the last two decades, those forests had the power to sequester more than one hundred megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.