(British Colombia) Output-Based Pricing System

British Columbia's Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS) is established through amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act (GGIRCA) and its regulations, sets a carbon pricing model for the province's industrial emitters. It replaces the province's CleanBC Industrial Incentive Program (CIIP)  and will be mandatory for large industry. 
 
Participation in OBPS is mandatory for to industrial producers of regulated products under the GGIRCA whose greenhouse gas emissions exceed 10,000 tCO2e per year. Under OBPS, industrial operators face a compliance obligation to emit less than the emissions standards established by the regulation, or submit performance credits for emissions that exceed that limit. Emission limits are calculated based on an operation's annual production, a reduction factor corresponding to the product and the production weighted average emissions intensity. Performance credits are tradeable and follow the federal government’s backstop carbon price, which is CAD 65 in 2023, and will increase by CAD 15  annually until it reaches CAD 170 per tonne in 2030.

Fugitive emissions, non-useful venting emissions and emissions associated with non-compression and non-processing activities in the oil and gas sectors are excluded from operations' emissions totals for OBPS purposes, but still must be reported under the GGIRCA.

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