The B.C. New Democrats would dissolve the Pacific Carbon Trust, NDP Leader Adrian Dix announced today (April 22).

In a news release, Dix said that if elected next month, the NDP would move the measuring and monitoring functions of the carbon trust to the Climate Action Secretariat. Under the party’s policy, carbon offset fees paid by post-secondary schools, hospitals, and Crown corporations would be used to fund energy-efficiency upgrades at the public institutions.

“Since 2008, our public institutions have been paying tens of millions of dollars in levies to the Pacific Carbon Trust,” Dix said in a news release. “Instead of using those funds to invest in energy-efficiency initiatives in schools and hospitals, the bulk of the money has been gifted to profitable corporations.”

The Pacific Carbon Trust is a Crown corporation that was established in 2008 as part of the B.C. Liberal government’s strategy to reduce its carbon footprint.

During the NDP’s environmental announcement, which Dix made in the riding of Liberal Environment Minister Terry Lake in Kamloops, the leader also reiterated his party’s opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Other proposals in the NDP’s environmental platform include implementing a ban on cosmetic pesticides, and using carbon tax revenues to fund investments in transit, retrofits, and other “green projects.”

According to the NDP, the costs for implementing the environmental plan are $36 million in 2013-14, $47 million in 2014-2015, and $60 million in 2015-2016.