The Quebec government says it raised about $215 million in revenue for its Green Fund in the first cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emissions auction since Ontario bowed out.
Results from the Aug. 14th joint Quebec-California auction released Tuesday show that all 79 million available current vintage emission units were sold for $19.77 each and all 9.4 million 2021 future units were sold for $19.57.
By comparison, in the May auction that included Ontario, 90.6 million current vintage emission units were sold at $18.72 and six million future emission units sold for $18.56.
The earlier sale generated about $190 million for Quebec.
Soon after being elected in June, Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled the Ontario cap-and-trade auctions that had resulted in nearly $2 billion in revenue in four auctions in 2017 prior to it joining with Quebec and California this year.
The next Quebec-California auction will take place on Nov. 14. An emission unit is the equivalent of one tonne of carbon dioxide.
The Canadian Press
