One of Justin Trudeau’s election promises was to mandate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada. It would seem that the Liberals are keeping true to their promise with increased legislation mandating that businesses reduce GHG emissions. In order to assist businesses with reduction targets, the federal government is now providing financial assistance to businesses through a number of funding programs. GHG reduction incentive programs include funding through local utility companies across North America, and more recently, in the province of Ontario, there is $25 million in funding through the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) SMART Green Funding Program. This program will support approximately 110 projects in Ontario, providing assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers to reduce GHG emissions and improve their energy efficiency and productivity.
How much can a company receive in funding?
The CME SMART Green Funding Program is quite lucrative and will reimburse companies up to 50% of eligible costs, up to a maximum of $200,000 in non-repayable grants. As with all grant programs, a company must first apply for funding and receive approval before moving forward with the project. If the GHG reduction project is underway or already completed before receiving funding approval your company will no longer be eligible to receive funding for that specific project.
What types of GHG emission reduction projects are eligible for funding
The CME SMART Green Funding Program will support the following types of GHG projects:
- best practices through process and/or product improvement
- capital investment projects that will reduce emissions
- implementation of energy efficiency technologies
- lead to productivity improvements, which in turn lead to lower GHG emissions on per-production-unit basis. GHG reduction either on a gross or per-unit basis is the prerequisite for all projects to be eligible
- support reduction in GHG intensity and/or avoidance through upgrades to process/production equipment
Projects that do not demonstrate reductions in GHG will not be considered eligible for funding under the program.
Who is Eligible?
In order to apply for CME SMART Green Funding companies must meet the following criteria:
- The company must be located in Ontario
- The company must be a small to medium manufacturer with ten employees or more, all of whom must be on the company payroll and all related payroll taxes must be on employee’s salaries.
- Annual GHG emissions for the facility must be under 25,000 tonnes per year
- The company must not be participating in Ontario’s Cap & Trade program
- Companies can apply for one project per facility and can include one assessment audit per facility
- Companies with more than one facility may apply for funding for a maximum of five facilities
The maximum funding allowance for multi-facility companies will be capped at $500,000 with the maximum funding allowance per facility being capped at $200,000 for a project, including assessment audit.
Sample Project types:
Here are some examples of CME SMART Green eligible projects:
- Advanced Heating and Process Controls
- Automated Blowdown Control
- Automated Temperature Control
- Blowdown Heat Recovery
- Destratification Fans
- Direct Contact Water Heaters
- Energy Management
- Feedwater Economizers
- Furnace Insulation
- High-efficiency Furnaces
- High Efficiency Heating Units
- Improved Building Envelope
- Lighting Retrofit
- Minimize Door Openings
- Process Heat Recovery
- Process Improvements (i.e. changing cleaning chemicals, set points, exhaust, moisture control, etc.)
- Process Integration and PINCH Analysis
- Radiant Heaters
- Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers
- Solar Walls
- Ventilation Optimization
- Ventilation Heat Recovery
- Warehouse Loading Dock Seals
If your company has a GHG reduction project that is not mentioned above it is still eligible for funding.
Application Submission Dates
The CME SMART Green Program is expected to open November 1, 2016. Applications will be accepted on a first in, first reviewed continuous basis until all funding has been committed.
Funding Process
In order to qualify for CME SMART Green Funding you projects will be required to have a technical assessment form that includes a baseline of current (pre-project) GHG emissions. Once the project is complete a twelve month post-implementation audit is required to verify the GHG reduction.