Sask. plans carbon offset credit program

The Saskatchewan government intends to move ahead with its own carbon offset credits program.

In the speech from the throne read today by Lt. Gov. Russ Mirasty, the government said there “are better ways to address climate change than the punitive taxes and ineffective regulations imposed by the federal government.”

It said the program will generate voluntary carbon offset credits to producers and companies that have commodities with lower greenhouse gas emissions than global averages.

The credits will be used to reduce their own carbon footprint or traded to other companies and producers, the speech said.

Premier Scott Moe said agricultural lands are fixing enough carbon each year that they could make the province net negative when it comes to emissions.

He said the province leads in making agriculture more sustainable. In 2020 nearly 13 million tonnes of carbon were sequestered in agricultural soil, equal to taking 2.78 million cars off the road for a year.