The Pacific Carbon Trust has made its first delivery of carbon offsets to the B.C. government. The transaction, which consisted of 34,370 tonnes of emission offsets, represents an important landmark in the development of the Trust.

The Trust was created in 2008 as a B.C. crown corporation to facilitate the carbon offset aspect of the government’s environment policy. In particular, the Trust has a mandate to deliver offsets to Provincial Government ministries, all of which will be required to offset their carbon emission by 2010 under the Greenhouse Gas Reductions Targets Act. To date, the Trust has acquired offsets from 15 facilities in B.C. and aims to purchase over 700,000 tonnes of carbon offsets per year by 2011.

In a recent press release, Minister of State for Climate Action John Yap said he felt the Trust has been a success story so far and is helping to deliver on the government’s green economy initiative. Mr. Yap has reason to be excited about the Trust’s accomplishments given that it is delivering carbon offsets in only its first year of operations.

The wider impact of the Trust on B.C.’s green economy is also evident in the success of private offset businesses such as Offsetters. The Trust has purchased over 300,000 carbon offsets from the offset provider to be delivered over 5 years. The Trust also recently entered into an offset contract with Sempa Power Systems. Sempa has created a successful enterprise installing energy efficient hybrid heating systems in hotels and other buildings.

To date, the Pacific Carbon Trust has been an example of the Provincial Government’s ability to stimulate B.C.’s green economy through innovative projects and legislation designed to encourage private initiative. Megawatt will keep you posted on further developments for the Trust and the world of carbon offsets.