O. Reg. 13/20: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: QUANTIFICATION, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION, Filed February 11, 2020 under Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19
ontario regulation 13/20
made under the
Environmental Protection Act
Made: January 30, 2020
Filed: February 11, 2020
Published on e-Laws: February 11, 2020
Printed in The Ontario Gazette: February 29, 2020
Amending O. Reg. 390/18
(GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: QUANTIFICATION, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION)
1. (1) The definition of “associated gas” in subsection 1 (1) of Ontario Regulation 390/18 is revoked.
(2) The definition of “biogas” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
“biogas” means a gas made from,
(a) the anaerobic digestion of organic matter in wastewater or wastewater treatment systems, or
(b) source separated organics; (“biogaz”)
(3) The definition of “facility” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
“facility” means a facility within the meaning of section 1.1; (“installation”)
(4) The definition of “general stationary combustion equipment” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is revoked.
(5) The definition of “indirect useful thermal energy” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is revoked.
(6) The definition of “ISO 14064-3” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
“ISO 14064-3” means, subject to subsection (2), ISO Standard 14064-3:2019, published by the International Organization for Standardization; (“ISO 14064-3”)
(7) The definition of “ISO 14065” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “and entitled “Greenhouse gases — Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition”.
(8) Subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation is amended by adding the following definitions:
“natural gas distribution” means the movement of natural gas in a natural gas pipeline system downstream of gate station inlet valves where pressure reduction or measuring occurs for the delivery of natural gas to consumers; (“distribution de gaz naturel”)
“on-site transportation emissions” means emissions from machinery used for the transport or movement of substances, materials, equipment or products that are used in the production process at a facility where those emissions have resulted from the combustion of fuel delivered in a delivery to which an exemption certificate referred to in section 36 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Canada) applies, containing a declaration described in subparagraph 36 (1) (b) (v) of that Act; (“émissions liées au transport sur le site”)
(9) The definitions of “pipeline transportation system”, “portable”, “refinery fuel gas” and “report” in subsection 1 (1) of the Regulation are revoked.
(10) Subsections 1 (2), (3) and (4) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
(2) Despite the definition of “ISO 14064-3”, an accredited verification body that begins a verification for the purposes of this Regulation on or before April 30, 2023 may elect to comply with ISO Standard 14064-3: 2006, published by the International Organization for Standardization, instead of ISO Standard 14064-3:2019, and any reference in this Regulation to “ISO 14064-3” shall be read as a reference to ISO Standard 14064-3: 2006 for the purposes of a verification in respect of which such an election has been made.
2. The Regulation is amended by adding the following section:
Facility
1.1 (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), for the purposes of the definition of “facility” in subsection 1 (1), any one of the following constitutes a facility:
1. All of the following that are operated in an integrated manner to carry out a specified GHG Activity and that have at least one common owner or operator:
i. Sites at which a specified GHG activity is carried out and the buildings, equipment, and other structures and stationary items located on those sites.
ii. Any other sites used in conjunction with the specified GHG activity, including a quarry, tailings pond, wastewater lagoon or pond and landfill.
2. The portion of a natural gas pipeline system within Ontario, excluding the portion of the natural gas pipeline system that is used in natural gas distribution.
3. The portion of a natural gas pipeline system within Ontario that is used in natural gas distribution.
4. An electricity transmission or distribution system within Ontario.
(2) With respect to pipelines and associated installations or equipment that would form part of a single facility under paragraph 2 or 3 of subsection (1), if there is more than one owner or operator,
(a) only those pipelines and associated installations or equipment that have at least one common owner or operator are considered to form part of the same facility; and
(b) only those pipelines and associated installations or equipment that are operated in an integrated manner are considered to form part of the same facility.
(3) Two or more sites referred to in paragraph 2, 3 or 4 of subsection (1) that would otherwise be considered to be separate facilities are considered to be a single facility if the facilities have at least one common owner or operator and are operated in an integrated manner.
(4) Any part of a public road or of a railway track that is bordered on both sides by a facility and used to carry out the facility’s specified GHG activities is considered to be part of the facility.
(5) For greater certainty, buildings that are used for legal, administrative or management purposes and that are not located where an industrial activity is carried out do not form part of a facility.
(6) For the purposes of this Regulation, separate sites or portions of separate sites are operated in an integrated manner if any of the following occurs between them:
1. Transfer of intermediate products, final products, by-products, by-product fuels or other material for processing, packaging or shipping.
2. Transfer of energy, including steam, cooling media or electricity, generated at one of them and used at another, other than the transfer of common fuels directly from one to another.
3. Subsection 2 (1) of the Regulation is revoked.
4. (1) The French version of subsection 5 (2) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “par” and substituting “lors de”.
(2) Subsection 5 (5) of the Regulation is amended by adding “or specified” after “set out”.
(3) Subsections 5 (7) and (9) of the Regulation are revoked.
5. (1) The French version of subsection 6 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “par” and substituting “lors de”.
(2) Subsection 6 (2) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
(2) The person is required to give a report to the Director with respect to the specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility for the year if the reporting amount in respect of the facility for the year, determined in accordance with the following formula, is 10,000 tonnes of CO2e or more:
R = (A – B)
where,
R = the reporting amount,
A = the amount of greenhouse gas emitted during all specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility, quantified in accordance with section 5, and
B = the portion of A that is carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion of biomass.
(2.1) The person is required to give a report to the Director with respect to the specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility for the year if the facility is a covered facility, even if subsection (2) does not apply to the person.
(3) Subsections 6 (4) and (5) of the Regulation are revoked.
6. (1) Subsections 7 (1) and (2) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
(1) A person who is required to give the Director a report with respect to specified GHG activities engaged in at a facility for a year shall, if the person continues to be the owner or operator of the facility in a subsequent year, give the Director a report with respect to the specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility for each subsequent year in which the person is the owner or operator of the facility.
(2) A person who was required under subsections 6 (2) to (4) of Ontario Regulation 143/16 to give the Director a report with respect to the activities engaged in at a facility for 2017 and for each subsequent year shall, if the person continues to be the owner or operator of the facility in a subsequent year, give the Director those reports in accordance with those provisions as if they had not been revoked, subject to subsection (3).
(2.1) If a person is deemed under subsection 5 (10) to be the owner or operator of a facility for an entire year, subsections (1) and (2) apply to that person as if that person were the person who was required to give the Director a report for the year.
(2.2) If, before the day Ontario Regulation 13/20 made under the Act comes into force, a person was required to give the Director separate reports with respect to more than one site and those sites constitute a single facility on and after that day, the person shall, for the purposes of this section, give the Director a single report in respect of the sites that constitute a single facility.
(2) Subsections 7 (4), (5) and (5.1) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
(4) Subject to subsections (5) and (5.1), the requirement in subsections (1) and (2) to give reports with respect to specified GHG activities engaged in at a facility for subsequent years ceases to apply in a year in respect of a facility if,
(a) an owner or operator of the facility has complied with this Regulation or Ontario Regulation 143/16 for the three consecutive years preceding the year; and
(b) the reporting amount in respect of the facility has been less than 10,000 tonnes of CO2e for each of those years.
(5) Subsection (4) ceases to apply in respect of a facility if, for any year following its application, the reporting amount in respect of the facility is 10,000 tonnes of CO2e or more.
(5.1) Subsection (4) does not apply in respect of a covered facility.
(3) Subsections 7 (6) and (7) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
(6) The requirements in subsections (1) and (2) cease to apply in respect of a facility if the specified GHG activities permanently cease to be engaged in at the facility and the owner or operator of the facility,
(a) provides notice to the Director that the activities have ceased permanently;
(b) gives the Director a report in respect of the final year in which the activities were engaged in at the facility; and
(c) if a report in respect of the facility in the year prior to the year in which the permanent cessation occurred was required to be verified under this Regulation, has the report mentioned in clause (b) verified by an accredited verification body in accordance with this Regulation and submits to the Director a verification statement prepared in accordance with section 18 and a verification report prepared in accordance with section 21.
7. Subsection 8 (3) of the Regulation is revoked.
8. The French version of clause 10 (4) (a) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
a) elle cesse définitivement d’exercer cette activité et avise le directeur que l’activité a définitivement cessé;
9. Section 11 of the Regulation is revoked.
10. Subsection 12 (1) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
(1) The owner or operator of a covered facility shall determine the verification amount in respect of the facility for each year in which the facility is a covered facility, in accordance with the following formula:
V = (A – B − C + D)
where,
V = the verification amount, expressed as tonnes of CO2e,
A = the amount of greenhouse gas emitted during all specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility, quantified in accordance with section 5 and expressed as tonnes of CO2e,
B = the portion of A, expressed as tonnes of CO2e, that is carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion of biomass,
C = the portion of A, expressed as tonnes of CO2e, that is emitted from,
(a) coal storage,
(b) the operation of equipment related to the transmission, storage and transportation of natural gas,
(c) the operation of equipment for an electricity transmission or distribution system,
(d) HCFC-22 production and HFC-23 destruction, and
(e) other emissions, as described in subsection (1.1),
D = the amount of greenhouse gas, expressed as tonnes of CO2e, that is from,
(a) CO2 recovered and consumed in urea production,
(b) CO2 recovered or captured from hydrogen production,
(c) flares in the operation of equipment related to the transmission, storage and transportation of natural gas,
(d) basic oxygen furnace gas transferred off-site,
(e) coke oven gas transferred off-site, and
(f) blast furnace gas transferred off-site.
(1.1) For the purposes of clause (e) of “C” in the formula in subsection (1), the other emissions are emissions,
(a) that result from engaging in an activity that is part of engaging in the specified GHG activities at a facility but for which no corresponding standard quantification method is set out in the Guideline; and
(b) that are quantified, as provided for in the Guideline, by using a method that is consistent with one or more methods specified in the Guideline.
11. Section 14 of the Regulation is amended by adding the following subsection:
(5) If the reporting amount or the verification amount is a number that is not a whole number when expressed in tonnes, the number shall be rounded up to the nearest tonne.
12. (1) Subsection 15 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “A person who gives a report with respect to specified GHG activities to the Director” at the beginning and substituting “The owner or operator of a facility in respect of which a report has been given to the Director under this Regulation, Ontario Regulation 143/16 or Ontario Regulation 452/09”.
(2) Paragraphs 3 and 4 of subsection 15 (1) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
3. If the report is in respect of a covered facility and is given to the Director on or after the day notice is published in the Canada Gazette of an order of the Governor General in Council under section 189 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Canada) deleting Ontario from the list of provinces and areas set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to that Act,
i. the per cent discrepancy in any production parameter reported in respect of an activity is 0.1 per cent or more, as determined in accordance with subsection (4), or
ii. the per cent discrepancy in the total annual emissions limit reported in respect of the facility is 0.1 per cent or more, as determined in accordance with subsection (4.1).
(3) Section 15 of the Regulation is amended by adding the following subsection:
(2) The owner or operator of the facility shall ensure that the revised report is prepared in accordance with the requirements set out in this Regulation with respect to the initial report given to the Director.
(4) Subsection 15 (4.1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “paragraph 4” in the portion before the formula and substituting “paragraph 3”.
(5) Subsection 15 (5) of the Regulation is revoked.
13. (1) Subsections 16 (1) and (2) of the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
(1) In verifying reports under this Regulation, an accredited verification body shall comply with ISO 14065 and ISO 14064-3.
(2) In verifying reports under this Regulation, an accredited verification body shall ensure that,
(a) any person selected to form part of a verification team meets the requirements for a verifier set out in ISO 14064-3;
(b) no person selected to form part of a verification team subcontracts the conduct of verifications to another person;
(c) each verification is reviewed by a peer reviewer in accordance with ISO 14065, as it relates to verification; and
(d) before a verification statement including a positive, qualified positive or adverse verification conclusion is prepared, the determination that forms the basis of the conclusion is reviewed by the peer reviewer.
(2) Subsection 16 (3) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “For the purposes of clause 4.6 of ISO 14064-3” at the beginning.
(3) The French version of clause 16 (3) (c) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “à l’issue de la vérification” at the end.
(4) Subsection 16 (7) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “D” and substituting “C”.
14. Subsection 17 (1) of the Regulation is revoked.
15. (1) Subsection 18 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “19 and 20” and substituting “19, 20 and 20.1” and by striking out “paragraph 4” and substituting “paragraph 3”.
(2) Subsection 18 (2) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “clause 4.9 of”.
16. Section 20 of the Regulation is amended by adding the following subsection:
(3) This section applies only if the report is in respect of a covered facility and is given to the Director on or after the day mentioned in paragraph 3 of subsection 15 (1).
17. Subsection 20.1 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “paragraph 4” and substituting “paragraph 3”.
18. (1) Paragraph 2 of subsection 21 (1) of the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
2. The verified verification amount and proposed verification amount conclusion.
2.1 The verified production parameter and proposed production parameter verification conclusion, if the report is given to the Director on or after the day mentioned in paragraph 3 of subsection 15 (1).
(2) Paragraph 3 of subsection 21 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “paragraph 4” and substituting “paragraph 3”.
19. The Regulation is amended by adding the following section:
Request for revised report, etc.
23.1 (1) If any of the circumstances described in subsection (2) apply, the Director may in writing request that the owner or operator of a facility in respect of which a report has been given with respect to specified GHG activities engaged in at the facility to,
(a) revise the report and give the revised report to the Director; and
(b) ensure that a revised verification statement is prepared in respect of the revised report and given to the Director.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the circumstances must be any of the following:
1. The Director is of the opinion that the accredited verification body that verified the GHG report has a potential compromise to its impartiality.
2. Based on production parameters and other data submitted by the owner or operator and verified by the accredited verification body, the Director has obtained a different result in calculating the total annual emissions limit.
3. Based on emissions data, production parameters and other data submitted by the owner or operator and verified by the accredited verification body, the Director has obtained a different result in calculating the verification amount.
4. The owner or operator has received an adverse verification conclusion for one or more production parameters in the last five years.
5. The owner or operator has received an adverse verification conclusion for a verification amount in the last five years.
6. The Director has reason to believe that the owner or operator has not complied with one or more requirements in this Regulation or the calculation methods set out in the Guideline.
(3) An owner or operator to whom the Director makes a request under this section shall submit a revised GHG report, revised verification report and revised verification statement in respect of the report, all prepared in accordance with this Regulation, within 90 days after receiving the Director’s request.
20. Subsection 24 (1) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “in addition to complying with clause 4.10 of ISO 14064-3”.
21. (1) Schedule 2 to the Regulation is amended by adding the following item:
2.1 |
Base metal production. |
The production of copper, nickel, zinc, lead or cobalt base metals through one of the following: |
(2) Paragraph 2 of Column 2 of Item 3 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation is amended by striking out “general stationary combustion” and substituting “fuel combustion and flaring”.
(3) Item 4 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
4. |
Cement production. |
The manufacture of Portland, ordinary Portland, masonry, pozzolanic or other hydraulic cements. |
(4) Items 6 to 9 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
6. |
Electricity and heat generation. |
The operation of any combustion device that combusts solid, liquid or gaseous fuels for the purpose of generating electricity or useful heat or steam, excluding the operation of portable or emergency generators with a nameplate capacity of less than 50 kilowatts or that generate less than 2 MWh in a year. |
7. |
Fuel combustion and flaring. |
The following activities: |
(5) Items 13, 14 and 15 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
13. |
Iron, Steel and Ferroalloy Production. |
The following activities: |
(6) Items and 17.1 and 18 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
18. |
Nitric acid production. |
The production of weak nitric acid that is 30 to 70 per cent in strength using the catalytic oxidation of ammonia. |
(7) Item 20 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
20. |
Operation of a natural gas pipeline system. |
The operation of equipment for the purposes of engaging in any of the following activities: |
(8) Items 24, 25 and 26 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation are revoked and the following substituted:
24. |
Aluminium production. |
The production of aluminium through primary processes that are used to manufacture aluminium from alumina, including electrolysis in prebake and Søderberg cells, anode and cathode baking for prebake cells and green coke calcination. |
25. |
Pulp and paper production. |
The production of pulp, paper and paper products by separating cellulose fibres from other materials in fibre sources, including but not limited to the conversion of paper into paperboard products and the operation of coating and laminating processes. |
(9) Item 28 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
28. |
Waste water processing. |
Industrial waste water processing from the facilities engaged in any of the following industrial activities: |
22. (1) Paragraph 6.1 of Schedule 5 to the Regulation is amended by striking out “paragraph 4” and substituting “paragraph 3”.
(2) Paragraph 8.1 of Schedule 5 to the Regulation is amended by striking out “paragraph 4” and substituting “paragraph 3”.
(3) Subparagraph 9 vi of Schedule 5 to the Regulation is revoked and the following substituted:
vi. The total annual quantity of the following:
A. CO2 that would otherwise have been directly released into the atmosphere but was captured at the facility.
B. CO2 that is transferred from the facility to an injection site.
C. CO2 that was captured and injected into a long-term geological storage site or an enhanced fossil fuel recovery operation.
vii. The amount of greenhouse gas emitted from sources that fall into such categories as may be specified in the Guideline.
Commencement
23. This Regulation comes into force on the day it is filed.