Ontario businesses and investors are hungry for clean electricity. In response, the Ministry of Energy tasked the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator in 2022 with assessing options for establishing a registry to support the creation of a clean energy credit system.Unfortunately, the proposed system will be little more than greenwashing, making companies’ power look cleaner than it is. The problem with Ontario’s clean energy creditsClean energy credits are certificates that represent one megawatt-hour of clean electricity. Ontario’s hydro and nuclear facilities make Ontario’s electricity generation 92 per cent non-emitting; with a mostly non-emitting provincial grid, clean energy credits allow companies to buy and claim credit for this clean generation. Companies that buy clean energy credits would claim to have lower Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions (indirect…
Ontario’s proposed clean energy credits are hot air. There are better ways to support clean power
