Day One: Monday, April 11, 2011
8:00 Registration and Coffee is Served
9:00 Opening Remarks from Conference Chair
Joseph Pallant
President & CEO
CPS Carbon Project Solutions Inc.
9:15 Keynote Address
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The Honourable Terry Lake
Minister of Environment
Government of British Columbia
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9:45 Canada’s Evolving Federal Climate Change Policy: Updates and Implications for Industry
Dr. Robert (Bob) Page
Chairman, National Round Table on the Environment
and the Economy/TransAlta Professor of Environmental
Management and Sustainability in the Institute for
Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy’s Energy
and Environmental Systems Group, University of Calgary
- Where does policy on GHG emissions stand today? Where is it headed tomorrow? How will changes impact your organization?
- Understanding Canada’s position on low-carbon stimulus spending and its intended effects on industry
- Successfully adapting to shifts in the regulatory framework
- Taking proactive measures while policy is being decided
- Determining realistic timelines for implementation strategies
10:30 Networking Coffee Break
10:45 Updates on U.S. Carbon Emissions Policy and Its Effect on the Canadian Market
Ruth Greenspan Bell
Senior Fellow, Formerly Acting U.S. Climate Policy Director,
World Resources Institute (WRI)
- COP 16: Looking at the outcome and implications of the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Mexico
- Review of legislative trends in the United States Congress and trends in individual states concerning regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, including cap and trade systems
- Examining potential new approaches to climate change as agenda items in the United States
11:30 Planning for 2012: Context and Key Elements of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI)’s Cap and Trade System
Tim Lesiuk
Executive Director, Business Development
Climate Action Secretariat
BC Ministry of Environment and Lead Negotiator for BC
Western Climate Initiative (WCI)
- Understanding how regional regulations and initiatives will fit into the system’s framework
- What specific industries are being targeted? How can they prepare? How is it different amongst large and small emitters?
- Project timelines – What will be required at various stages of the system’s implementation
- What are the penalties of non-compliance?
- Reporting thresholds – Where does your company stand?
- How will essential requirements for mandatory reporting in Canadian jurisdictions be harmonized with WCI’s requirements as well as those of the US EPA?
- Will Canadian emitters be required to report in the U.S? If so, whose rules apply?
- How will Alberta’s trading system fit into the equation?
12:15 Networking Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers
1:30 International Emissions Markets: What North America Can Learn from the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EUETS)?
Katie Sullivan
Canadian Director
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)
- Updates on the functioning of the EUETS
- Developing infrastructure to support offset trading
- Comparing and contrasting EUETS with the WCI’s proposed cap and trade system
- How has European industry responded, adapted to and benefited from the EUETS?
- Learning from the implementation of the EUETS – What were the challenges and how were they overcome?
- Looking at examples of industry leakage to unregulated jurisdictions – How have companies remained competitive in regulated environments?
- Prospects for a future global trading system?
2:15 Effectively Implementing and Crediting New Emissions Reductions Strategies
Joseph Pallant
President & CEO, CPS Carbon Project Solutions Inc.
- Why bother lowering emissions? The Canadian business case for emissions reductions
- New technologies and engineering strategies commercially available for implementation
- You’re going to do what?! – Analyzing project feasibility
- Catching everything in your long term cost / benefit analysis
- What to call those emissions reductions you just made – Offsets? Not necessarily
- How to pay for your company’s climate change activities: Canadian routes to carbon finance
- Taking advantage of provincial and federal government grants and incentive programs – Enabling eligibility for specific opportunities
3:00 Networking Refreshment Break
Industry Panel
3:15 Developing Optimal Strategies for Carbon Management: An Industry Perspective
Moderator:
Jock Finlayson
Executive Vice President – Policy
Business Council of British Columbia
Panel:
Luciano Dalla Longa
Team Lead, Natural Gas Economy, EnCana Corporation
David Lawlor
Director, Environmental Affairs, ENMAX Corporation
Dave Schwass
Senior Advisor, Environment, NOVA Chemicals Corporation
Gary Weilinger
VP Strategic Development and External Relations
Spectra Energy Transmission West
- Examining proven approaches to emissions management – Making the right choices for your organization
- Establishing realistic targets and standards
- Weighing the benefits of capital investments
- Avoiding risk when developing emissions reduction strategies
- Factors to consider when weighing your financial options: Paying penalties vs. Reducing or trading emissions
4:45 Assessing Commercial Opportunities in Carbon Offset Markets
Senior Representative, Offsetters
- Understanding global offset markets: Canada’s role on North American and international scales
- Deciding whether it make business sense to trade available offsets?
- Managing your inventory of available offsets and determining market values of offsets
- Examining the pros and cons of reporting for emitters below mandatory reporting thresholds
- What would be required?
- Will cap and trade be a benefit or a risk?
- How to register offsets
5:30 Chair’s Recap and Conference Adjourns
Day Two: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
8:30 Coffee is Served
9:00 Chair’s Opening Remarks
Regulatory Panel
9:15 Varying Provincial Policies and Their Effects on Carbon Strategies
Moderator:
Alex Carr
Canadian Policy Director and Director of Communications
The Climate Registry
Panel:
Robert Savage
Section Head, Regulatory and Mitigation Policy Section/
Climate Change Secretariat, Alberta Environment
Jessica Verhagen
Director Business Development, B.C. Climate Action Secretariat
Robert Noël de Tilly
Senior Climate Change Advisor, Ministry for Sustainable
Development, Environment and Parks, Province of Quebec/
Executive Committee Co-Chair
Western Climate Initiative (WCI) (Invited)
Doug MacCallum
Manager, Energy Markets, Ontario Ministry of Energy
and Infrastructure, Chair, Electricity Team, Western Climate
Initiative (WCI) (Invited)
- Updates on provincial climate change policy and initiatives
- Mapping mandatory reporting requirements across the country
- How will reporting requirements be harmonized across WCI partner provinces?
- How does this impact you working across multiple jurisdictions?
- How non-WCI partner provinces fit into the national equation
- How will federal and provincial regulations be harmonized?
- Examining the B.C.’s carbon tax and how it fits into your strategy
- Assessing Alberta’s trading system – strengths and weaknesses
10:45 Networking Coffee Break
11:00 Optimal Strategies for Participation in Carbon Trading
Selina Lee-Andersen
Associate, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
- The Montreal Climate Exchange: Understanding its role in a North American trading system
- Understanding trade restrictions
- Are there limits for selling and buying?
- Participating in offset transactions
- Executing on credits and when to keep them in place future
- Offset purchase vs. Carbon tax – which is more cost effective for your company?
- Could companies trade amongst their own facilities in different jurisdictions to offset each other’s emissions?
- Verifying offset validity at time of purchase – Avoiding ‘risky offsets’ and their potential detriment to your carbon accountability
11:45 The Proliferation of Regional GHG Compliance Mechanisms: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Industrial Emitters
Duncan Rotherham
VP and Managing Director, ICF International
- Responding effectively and efficiently to multiple/distinct regional GHG emissions reporting requirements
- Driving consistency in emissions reporting and the relevance of the EPA’s Mandatory Reporting Rule
- Appreciating current uncertainty related to future regional compliance system design (cap and trade, carbon tax, both, neither)
- Managing compliance – challenges and opportunities associated with regional GHG emission abatement mechanisms
12:30 Networking Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers
1:45 Designing and Implementing Internal Controls for GHG Emissions Reporting
Nelson Lee, MASc., P.Eng.
Senior Sustainability Strategist, EBA
Paul Vickers
Director, Sustainability Practice, Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP
- Developing good systems for internal data gathering
- Strategies to ensure data integrity – making sure you meet compliance requirements in the event of an audit
- Lifecycle Analysis
- Understanding the difference between scope one, two and three emissions and where they fit into your company’s footprint
- Inter-jurisdictional lifecycles
- How to avoid the “double counting” of emissions
- Managing the administrative details and necessary reporting forms in order to ensure clarity and conciseness
- Enterprise resource planning systems: Choosing the right technology for your company
- Best practices in sustainability performance management
2:45 Anticipating and Preparing for the Indirect Effects of Disclosing GHG Emissions Data
Neil Mather
Associate, McLennan Ross LLP
- Identifying the secondary effects that may arise from the disclosure of emissions figures
- Understanding how your company’s carbon footprint can affect insurance-related risk
- Responding to shareholders’ concerns on GHG emissions and liability issues
- How can you make disclosure work in your favour?
- Avoiding misconceptions: Effective communications with stakeholders about involvement in carbon trading initiatives
3:30 Networking Refreshment Break
3:45 Understanding the Role of Third Party Verification of Carbon Offsets
Shawn Burns
President, Carbon Credit Corp./Offsetters
- Who can perform verifications of emissions reports?
- Internal vs. third party audits – understanding key differences
- Operator requirements for verification process – making the right information available to the auditor to ensure transparency
Case Study
4:30 Looking at Practical Initiatives for Emissions Reductions
Rudy Sundermann, P.Eng., MASc.
Technical Advisor, Energy Management Technology
& Operations Efficiency Team, Cenovus Energy Inc.
- Moving from small programs, to major efforts, to reduce GHG emissions in an oil and gas production company
- What technologies were proposed? What can be expected in terms of reduced GHG emissions?
- What were the impacts of potential government subsidies?
- How was operating team support gained for the installation and costs?
- What is the current status of this effort?
- How can these new methods be applied to other technology opportunities?
5:15 Chair’s Recap and Conference Concludes
Conference Details