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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulations

made under subsection 28(6) and Section 112 of the

Environment Act

S.N.S. 1994-95, c. 1

O.I.C. 2009-341 (August 14, 2009), N.S. Reg. 260/2009


Citation

1     These regulations may be cited as the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulations.


Definitions

2     In these regulations,

 

“Act” means the Environment Act;

 

“compliance period” means a multi-year period prescribed in Section 4 for which an emission cap has been specified in Section 4;

 

“emission cap” means the maximum total greenhouse gas emissions specified for a compliance period for all facilities in the Province as set out in Section 4, for the purpose of reducing the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted from all facilities in the Province;

 

“facility” means any building, structure, generation unit, equipment or stationary item that is located on a single site, or on contiguous or adjacent sites that function as a single integrated site for supplying electricity for sale, and that emits greenhouse gases;

 

“facility owner” means any person who owns, operates or is responsible for a facility, but does not include an individual employee;

 

“generation unit” means a combustion unit generating heat, steam or another form of energy for the purposes of supplying electricity that is delivered on the Provincial power grid;

 

“greenhouse gases” means the greenhouse gases listed in Table 1 of Schedule A;

 

“global warming potentials” means the global warming potentials listed in Table 2 of Schedule A used to calculate the emission caps;

 

“low-emissions electricity” means electric energy produced from any source of renewable energy, including any of the following:

 

                         (i)     solar energy,

 

                         (ii)    wind energy,

 

                         (iii)   biomass,

 

                         (iv)   run-of-the-river hydroelectric energy,

                         (v)    ocean-powered energy,

 

                         (vi)   tidal energy,

 

                         (vii)  wave energy,

 

                         (viii) landfill gas,

 

                         (ix)   liquid biofuel and other biogas energy,

 

                         (x)    nuclear power,

 

                         (xi)   large hydro;

 

“new transmission incentive” means an increase in the emission cap for a compliance period granted in accordance with Section 7 in return for eligible investments made by a facility owner.


Application of regulations

3     These regulations apply to any facility located in the Province that emits greater than 10 000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (10 kt CO2 eq) greenhouse gases in a calendar year.


Compliance periods and emission caps

4     (1)    The compliance periods, the calendar years covered by the periods and the corresponding total emission caps for all facilities in the Province are as set out in the following table:


Compliance Period

Calendar Years

Emission Cap for all Facilities
in the Province
(million tonnes CO2eq)

1

2010, 2011

19.22

2

2012, 2013

18.5

3

2014, 2015, 2016

26.32

4

2017, 2018, 2019

24.06

5

2020

7.5

 

       (2)    The emission caps must be met and each facility owner must ensure that the emission caps are met.

 

       (3)    A facility owner must coordinate with other facility owners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and must implement measures to meet the emission caps.

 

       (4)    The Minister may allocate a maximum greenhouse gas emission to an individual facility but the allocated maximum must not increase the total amount of greenhouse gases specified in an emission cap.


Annual report

5     (1)    Starting in the year 2009, and for every calendar year thereafter, a facility owner must submit an annual report to the Minister no later than March 31 of the following year.

 

       (2)    An annual report must include all of the following information about all of the facility owner’s facilities:

 

                (a)    the legal name of the facility owner;

 

                (b)    the name and location of each of the facilities;

 

                (c)    the National Pollutant Release Inventory identification number for each of the facilities;

 

                (d)    the name, position, mailing address and telephone number of the person submitting the report;

 

                (e)    the name, position, mailing address and telephone number of the authorized signing officer certifying the statement as required under subsection (3);

 

                (f)    the total quantity in metric tonnes of direct emissions from each facility and the generation units;

 

                (g)    the total quantity in metric tonnes of direct emissions of carbon dioxide from each facility and the generation units of all of the following:

 

                         (i)     greenhouse gases and global warming potentials,

 

                         (ii)    carbon dioxide,

 

                         (iii)   methane and nitrous oxide,

 

                         (iv)   sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons by individual species;

 

                (h)    the method of estimation used to determine the quantities of emissions reported, chosen from the following:

 

(i)monitoring,

 

(ii)direct measurement,

 

(iii)mass balance,

 

(iv)emission factors,

 

(v)engineering estimates;

 

                (i)     any information required by the Minister to determine compliance with these regulations.

 

       (3)    An annual report must include a statement signed by an authorized signing officer on behalf of the facility certifying that the information submitted in the report is true, accurate and complete.


Compliance period report

6     (1)    In this Section, “verifier” means an independent third party consisting of accounting and financial auditing expertise and engineering and environmental assessment expertise.

 

       (2)    A facility owner must submit a compliance period report to the Minister for each compliance period, no later than March 31 of the year following the end of the compliance period.

 

       (3)    A compliance period report must include all of the following information about all of a facility owner’s facilities:

 

                (a)    a summary of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced over the compliance period;

 

                (b)    any new transmission incentives approved for the compliance period;

 

                (c)    an assessment by a verifier of the total emissions produced over the compliance period, as required by subsection (4).

 

       (4)    A facility owner must have a verifier assess the total emissions produced over a compliance period and must provide the verifier with any information or documentation that relates to the assessment and allow the verifier to access any facility owned or operated by the facility owner to do any of the following:

 

                (a)    collect information used to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions;

 

                (b)    take samples of any energy sources used to generate electricity;

 

                (c)    take samples of emissions;

 

                (d)    examine and collect documentation related to any energy sources purchased to generate electricity.


New transmission incentive

7     (1)    Subject to subsection (6), a facility owner may apply to the Minister for a new transmission incentive for a compliance period no later than 6 months before the end of the compliance period to which it will apply.

 

       (2)    An application for a new transmission incentive must include documentation demonstrating the facility owner has invested or will invest in new transmission capacity that has or will increase the facility owner’s ability to move electrical power generated in the Province by sources of low-emissions electricity.

 

       (3)    The amount of a new transmission incentive must be calculated in accordance with the following scale of transmission investment costs:


Compliance Period

Investment Cost of Transmission Incentive per Metric Tonne

Maximum Potential Transmission Incentive (million metric tonnes CO2eq)

1

$15

0.58

2

$25

0.56

3

$40

0.79

4

$60

0.72

 

       (4)    The amount allowed for a new transmission incentive will not be specified by the Minister until documentation is provided that confirms the transmission investment expenditure required by subsection (2).

 

       (5)    A new transmission incentive must be applied towards the emission cap for the compliance period it was allowed for and cannot be carried over and applied to subsequent emission caps.

 

       (6)    An application for a new transmission incentive may not be made for compliance period number 5 (2020).


Penalties

8     Any fine imposed by a court for a contravention of these regulations must be designated to be paid to the Nova Scotia Environmental Trust Fund.




Schedule A

Greenhouse Gases


Table 1: Greenhouse Gases Subject to Mandatory Reporting


Greenhouse Gas

Chemical formula

CAS Registry Number

(see footnote 1)

Carbon dioxide

CO2

124-38-9

Methane

CH4

74-82-8

Nitrous oxide

N2O

10024-97-2

Sulphur hexafluoride

SF6

2551-62-4

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs):

 

 

       HFC-23

CHF3

75-46-7

       HFC-32

CH2F2

75-10-5

       HFC-41

CH3F

593-53-3

       HFC-43-10mee

C5H2F10

138495-42-8

       HFC-125

C2HF5

354-33-6

       HFC-134

C2H2F4 (structure: CHF2CHF2)

359-35-3

       HFC-134a

C2H2F4 (structure: CH2FCF3)

811-97-2

       HFC-143

C2H3F3 (structure: CHF2CH2F)

430-66-0

       HFC-143a

C2H3F3 (structure: CF3CH3)

420-46-2

       HFC-152a

C2H4F2 (structure: CH3CHF2)

75-37-6

       HFC-227ea

C3HF7

431-89-0

       HFC-236fa

C3H2F6

690-39-1

       HFC-245ca

C3H3F5

679-86-7

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs):

 

 

       Perfluoromethane

CF4

75-73-0

       Perfluoroethane

C2F6

76-16-4

       Perfluoropropane

C3F8

76-19-7

       Perfluorobutane

C4F10

355-25-9

       Perfluorocyclobutane

c-C4F8

115-25-3

       Perfluoropentane

C5F12

678-26-2

       Perfluorohexane

C6F14

355-42-0

 

1.      The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number is the property of the American Chemical Society and any use or redistribution, except as required in supporting regulatory requirements and/or for reports to the Government when the information and the reports are required by law or administrative policy, is not permitted without the prior written permission of the American Chemical Society.



Table 2: Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming Potentials (GWPs)


Greenhouse Gas

Chemical

100 year GWP

Carbon dioxide

CO2

1

Methane

CH4

21

Nitrous oxide

N2O

310

Sulphur hexafluoride

SF6

23 900

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs):

 

 

       HFC-23

CHF3

11 700

       HFC-32

CH2F2

650

       HFC-41

CH3F

150

       HFC-43-10mee

C5H2F10

1300

       HFC-125

C2HF5

2800

       HFC-134

C2H2F4 (structure: CHF2CHF2)

1000

       HFC-134a

C2H2F4 (structure: CH2FCF3)

1300

       HFC-143

C2H3F3 (structure: CHF2CH2F)

300

       HFC-143a

C2H3F3 (structure: CF3CH3)

3800

       HFC-152a

C2H4F2 (structure: CH3CHF2)

140

       HFC-227ea

C3HF7

2900

       HFC-236fa

C3H2F6

6300

       HFC-245ca

C3H3F5

560

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs):

 

 

       Perfluoromethane

CF4

6500

       Perfluoroethane

C2F6

9200

       Perfluoropropane

C3F8

7000

       Perfluorobutane

C4F10

7000

       Perfluorocyclobutane

c-C4F8

8700

       Perfluoropentane

C5F12

7500

       Perfluorohexane

C6F14

7400