N.W.T. announces carbon tax exemption on diesel for home heating

Residents of the Northwest Territories will soon be exempt from the carbon tax on diesel home-heating fuel, according to the territorial government. 

In a news release on Tuesday evening, the government says the exemption comes into effect on April 1 and will last until March 31, 2027. The exemption brings the N.W.T. in line with the federal government’s three-year exemption announced in October.

In January, N.W.T. Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek said the territory’s delay in exempting the tax on diesel is in part to consider residents who use other methods of heating their homes, such as propane.

But in Tuesday’s announcement, the government said it couldn’t “extend the relief” to other heating fuels. It said to do so would make the territory non-compliant with federal carbon-pricing rules.

N.W.T. residents can expect their next cost of living offset payment in April.

Wawzonek was questioned Tuesday afternoon in the legislature about why the territory had not already created an exemption for N.W.T. residents

She again indicated the government was considering how it would affect residents who use other methods of heating their homes but did not indicate that the exemption would be announced later that day.

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: MLAs in Canada’s Northwest Territories to hear from public on carbon tax changes, CBC News

Greenland: Climate change accelerating ice loss from peripheral glaciers, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: Will the green transition be the new economic motor in the Arctic?, Eye on the Arctic

Russia: More Russian Arctic oil via Murmansk redirects to India, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden: Sweden’s climate policies closer to reaching goals, Radio Sweden

United States: Bering Sea ice at lowest extent in at least 5,500 years, study says, Alaska Public Media