Long-term energy plan 2017 (see appendix) comes as a revision to LTEP 2013. It is meant to be a road map for the provincial government to make better decision to help create cleaner, affordable energy throughout the province. This report is backed by two background reports, Ontario Planning Outlook, by IESO and Fuel Technical Report by Ministry of Energy (see appendix). LTEP 2017 aims to make energy an affordable entity in a province plagued by high electricity prices (compared to Manitoba and Quebec). It closely follows other implementation tools of the provincial government like the CCAP (Climate Change Action Plan) to ensure the directives government take are transparent and in line with COP 21 GHG emissions (see appendix) (see Figure 3)standards and provincial targets. (Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, 2016)
Present Scenario
Despite ON’s low-carbon electricity supply, 80% (see Figure 1)of total energy source is still fossil fuel based and that accounts for 70% of total GHG emissions (see Figure 2)in the province (see appendix). The retraction of coal fired refineries backed by presence of nuclear energy helped bring down the GHG emissions of electricity sector to 7%(of total 171 Mt, 2013) yet transportation, industry and building sectors
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It limits the amount of GHG emissions (cap) that comes from the economy and allows those under it to trade their allowances among themselves if emissions are exceeded, hence the carbon price is decided by market, contrary to carbon tax, where it is imposed by government. All proceeds from cap and trade (estimated to be close to $1.9 billion each year) can be used in transparent manner and goes back to the province in the form of financial incentives and tax reductions further helping to combat emissions and making energy