Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP)

Climate action is a key provincial priority and local governments are vital partners in helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and creating greener, more compact and energy-efficient communities.

The Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP) is a conditional grant program that provides funding to Climate Action Charter (Charter) signatories equivalent to 100 percent of the carbon taxes they pay directly.  This funding supports local governments in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move forward on achieving their Charter goals. 

Eligible Applicants
To be eligible for the conditional grant, local governments must:

• Sign on to the Climate Action Charter, and by doing so commit to take actions and develop strategies to achieve the following goals:
• Be carbon neutral in their corporate operations by 2012;
• Measure and report on their community GHG emissions profile;
• Create complete, compact, energy-efficient rural and urban communities; and,
• Report publicly on their plan and progress toward meeting their climate action goals, using the CARIP Public Reporting Template.

Amount of Grant
Under the CARIP, each eligible local government will receive a grant equal to 100 percent of the carbon tax paid as a direct expenditure in the previous year.

Reporting Requirements
To be eligible for the conditional grant, local governments are required to report publicly on their plan and progress toward meeting their climate action goals by December 31 of each year using the CARIP Public Reporting Template.

The CARIP Public Reporting Template has been revised for 2011 (.ZIP, 1.25MG). Local governments are not required to use the revised template for the 2011 reporting year; however, they are encouraged to do so as it is more user-friendly.  Note: local governments that choose to use the revised template for the 2011 CARIP Public Report are not required to fill in the Carbon Neutral Reporting section for 2011.  Local governments will be required to use the new CARIP Public Reporting Template for 2012.

Instructions on how to fill out the revised 2011 CARIP Public Reporting Template can be found in the first tab of the revised CARIP Public Report excel workbook. If local a government chooses not to use the 2011 CARIP Public Reporting Template (.ZIP, 1.25MG) they can use the 2010 CARIP Public Reporting Template (.XLS, 66KB).

How To Apply
Download and complete the Carbon Tax Calculation Form (.XLS, 77KB) and send it, as well as the completed CARIP Public Excel Reporting Template to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development at: infra@gov.bc.ca. by February 17, 2012.

A copy of the signed Carbon Tax Calculation form must follow the electronic copy by fax or mail. For more information on the program, please call 250 387-4068.  For more detailed information on completion of the Carbon Tax Calculation form, please see the CARIP Guidance 2011 (.PDF, 60KB)

The Carbon Tax Calculation Form must be certified by Local Government Financial Officers as outlined on the Form.

2010 CARIP Data: Demonstrating Progress and Sharing Best Practices
For 2010, a total of 162 Climate Action Charter signatories completed and submitted their 2010 CARIP Reports to the Province.  It is clear from the Reports that local governments are undertaking a significant amount of climate action in both the corporate and community-wide spheres.  In order to share this information more broadly and encourage peer to peer learning, the data from these Reports have been compiled into the following:

CARIP Public Report 2010 Summary (.PDF, 275KB) – This document provides a high level summary of the data received through the 2010 CARIP Public Reports.

CARIP Action Highlights List 2010 (.PDF, 200KB) – This document provides a snapshot of actions reported in the 2010 CARIP Public Reports.

List of Community-wide Actions (.XLS, 428KB) – This is an Excel spreadsheet that lists all of the community-wide actions take as reported in the 2010 CARIP Public Reports.  The lists are organized by size of community and type of action.

List of Corporate Actions (.XLS, 1.7MG) – This is an Excel spreadsheet that lists all of the corporate action taken as reported in the 2010 CARIP Public Reports.  The lists are organized by size of community and type of action.