Williams Engineering Accredited by PCT

The government of British Columbia began a series of green initiatives that covers almost every sector of their economy.

The Climate Change Secretariat is working on coordinating with other states and provinces to harmonize actions on political scenes, as well as focusing the technology initiatives portion. Pushing BCHydro to accept independent green power is one of the successes, which allows Williams Engineering Canada to participate through the first windfarm at Bear Mountain, British Columbia. Other initiatives include the institution of a carbon tax followed by a pilot cap-and-trade program for all government and crown corporation facilities. To assist in this cap-and-trade program, the government makes each agency report annually on its GHG footprint and mandates a reduction to become "carbon-neutral" by 2012. In almost all cases, facilities will have to reduce energy use and buy further carbon credits to bring their carbon footprints to zero. To assist in obtaining and distributing these GHG credits, British Columbia created the Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT). This group sets the criteria for acceptance and reviews and approves the offered projects and credits. The group also purchases and distributes the credits to those departments requiring GHG credits, while accepting funds from them. Under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target Act, the price to be paid by the departments is set at $15/tonne but rises by statute each year.

Part of the process in finding GHG credits is obtaining independent, third party validation and verification for each project to ensure valid, high quality credits that withstand serious scrutiny from the legal and scientific communities. The team of professionals at Williams Engineering are now accredited by PCT to conduct Validations and Verifications according to ISO14064 part three for PCT projects. This will allow Project Developers to obtain qualified validation services quickly and efficiently and Williams Engineering to assist in the rapid deployment of environmental engineering projects throughout British Columbia. We are happy to be recognized as a leader in carbon trading in British Columbia and Alberta as well as internationally.

For more details please contact:
John Mckay, P.Eng., CMVP
Regional Director, Southern Alberta
Direct: 403.410.6345
Email: jmckay@williamsengineering.com

Julia Beresford, B.Sc.
Sustainability Lead
Direct: 780.409.3129
Email: jberesford@williamsengineering.com

Click here to be directed to the Pacific Carbon Trust's list of screened validation and verification bodies.