When the NDP government came into power in 2017 and committed to raising B.C.’s carbon tax, it made special provisions for industry. Their increased carbon taxes would be fully returned to “best-in-class” companies and through supporting projects advancing industrial decarbonization.

As of April, a new system — the output-based pricing system — is in place.

The name is somewhat confusing, but the key point is that it is a system of managing carbon pricing for big polluters by exempting a portion of emissions from taxation.

This new system exempts 65 per cent of industrial emissions from the carbon tax.