Family
Carbon Emissions & Fuel Charge Calculator
Urban & Rural
Ontario
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Approach 1: This is a Quarterly Calculator that permits you to calculate your family's direct carbon emissions and fuel charges. Please enter data of your actual natural gas, gasoline, propane, and automotive diesel use for any 3 month period. A negative net direct fuel charge means your Canada Carbon Rebate exceeds the fuel charges that you pay directly. A positive net direct fuel charge means that the fuel charges that you pay directly for natural gas, gasoline, propane, and automotive diesel exceed your Canada Carbon Rebate.
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Approach 2: You can also use this calculator to estimate your gross fiscal (direct and indirect) and economic costs of the fuel charge/carbon tax pricing system using data taken from the Parliamentary Budget Officer's 2023 report. Please be sure to enter Family Annual Income. This is the only field that requires data for 12 months. The Family Annual Income field generates a rough income-based calculation, that does not take into account your family's frugality relative to the rest of the population. It uses estimates of adjusted rebate, fiscal cost, and economic cost from an Ontario-wide-population table rather than using your specific input of consumption of fuels by your household.
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Fuel charges and rebate rates are for months after April 1, 2024. A toggle input permits you to switch beteen urban and rural households.
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This calculator does not calculate fuel charges/carbon tax or carbon emissions generated by home heating oil, coal, or aviation gasoline, all of which generate greenhouse gases.
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All Fields are required and some fields must have a value >= 1.
Consult your 🔥Enbridge bill for the last 3 months and enter the total number of cubic metres used during the three months.
Natural Gas Emissions 0.00 kg CO2e
Natural Gas Fuel Charge $0.00
For each of your automobiles 🚘 🚙, choose the approximate average gasoline consumption in L per 100 km and then estimate how many km you travelled in that vehicle during the three months.
Veh #1 🚘 Gasoline Used 0.00 L
Veh #2 🚙 Gasoline Used 0.00 L
If you used additional gasoline, for example, for a 🏡lawn mower, ⚓️🚤boat, ⚡️generator, or other 🏎vehicle(s), enter the approximate number of litres of additional gasoline you used during the quarter.
Total Gasoline Used 0.00 L
Gasoline Emissions 0.00 kg CO2e
Gasoline Fuel Charge $0.00
Total Propane Used 0.00 L
Propane Emissions 0.00 kg CO2e
Propane Fuel Charge $0.00
Diesel emissions 0.00 kg CO2
Fuel Charge on Automotive Diesel is $0.00
Please enter data
Your Carbon Footprint from Direct Purchases
0.00 kg CO2
What Does the Fuel Charge/Carbon Tax Cost You?
There are at least two approaches to calculating your net $ cost of fuel charges after the rebate.
Approach #1
The first approach, favoured by one political party is to calculate your actual household fuel charges for natural gas, gasoline, propane, and diesel (if applicable) and then subtract the Canada Carbon Rebate that you actually receive. The actual Canada Carbon Rebate that you receive does not vary with income level. If you wish to apply this approach, you can use the fields on this calculator that permit you to input your actual or estimated Enbridge natural gas in cubic metres, your automobile mileage, your km travelled in each vehicle, your additional gasoline used, your propane cylinders and additional propane, your automotive diesel in litres and then input below whether you are an individual, with partner, and each child. You will also need to indicate if you live in an urban or rural community.
Reference: Canada Carbon Rebate Table
Find out if you qualify for the supplement for residents of small and rural communities
Approach #1 Calculations:
Quarterly CCR Rebate before Fuel Charge is $0.00
Net Fuel Charge is $0.00
Approach #2
The second approach, taken by another political party, is to use data from economists (in this case the Parliamentary Budget Officer) calculating all of the fiscal costs (direct and indirect) and economic costs of the fuel charge system across Ontario, for 5 different family income levels, and apply them per capita to your situation.
Approach #2 Calculations:
Estimated Fiscal Cost of Fuel Charge/Carbon Tax $0.00
Estimated Economic Cost of Fuel Charge/Carbon Tax and Other Carbon Pricing $0.00
Estimated Rebate $0.00
Estimated Net Effect of Fuel Charge and Other Carbon Pricing:
$0.00
Calculations & Methodology
Direct Carbon your household generates
Direct carbon your household generates: Your household generates several different kinds of greenhouse gases including methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon. You have some degree of control over these emissions. This is the carbon (CO2) generated by you based on the number of litres of gasoline, propane, and automotive diesel your family uses and the number of cubic metres of natural gas your house consumes. The "kg CO2e" calculation above has been increased by 0.00 based on the fuel data that you have entered. 1000 kg of CO2 = 1 metric Tonne CO2.
Approach 1: The Direct Fuel charge/Carbon tax you pay on fuels
This approach calculates the fuel charges/carbon taxes paid by you based on the number of litres of gasoline, propane, or automotive diesel your family uses and the number of cubic metres of natural gas your house consumes. The Direct Fuel Charge Before Rebate $ and After Rebate: Net Fuel Charge $ calculations above have been increased by the number of litres of gasoline (0 L @ 0.1761 tax rate), propane (0 L @ .1238 tax rate), and diesel (0 L @ 0.2139 tax rate) your family uses and the number of cubic metres of natural gas (0 cu m @ 0.1525 tax rate) your house consumes, for a total increase of $ 0.00 based on the fuel data that you have entered.
One criticism of Approach 1 is that it does not account for federal GST on the fuel charge. Based on your fuel charges calculated above, it may be appropriate to add an extra 5% GST (HST) of $0.00 to any calculation of the federal fuel charges/carbon taxes that you pay. No extra GST/HST has been added above.
Another criticism of Approach 1 is that it does not account for the fuel charges in $ or in carbon footprint passed on to you by the companies and other entities that provide you with goods and services that required fuel and the emission of carbon in manufacture, production, resale, or transportation, by those goods and services providers. The 2023 CBC Calculator adjusts your direct fuel charges to add estimated indirect cost: "There are also indirect costs to consider. These are the carbon taxes paid by companies and passed along to you in the form of increased prices on the goods and services you buy." (see CBC calculator based on 2023-2024 linked below).
Approach 2: Fiscal and Economic Cost Method of Calculating Fuel charge/Carbon tax
Fiscal Cost: In this method, your fical cost of the fuel charge/carbon tax is not based on what you actually pay in fuel charges. Instead, the fiscal cost, direct and indirect, is estimated based on your income level. This method estimates what you pay directly and the fuel charges/carbon taxes paid by companies that are passed along to you in the form of increased prices on the goods and services you buy. According to economists, these costs, can be calculated roughly, based on your family income. The "Estimated Fiscal Cost" calculation above has been increased by $0.00 based on the "Family Annual Income" that you have entered.
Economic Cost: In this highly-debated method, all of the economic effects on persons at your income level are taken into consideration. According to some economists, Economic costs, can be calculated roughly, based on your family income. The "Net Fuel Charge" calculation above has been increased by $0.00 based on the "Family Annual Income" that you have entered. These numbers are disputed among politicians in Parliament. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated that the numbers for economic cost in its 2023 Report (on which our calculation is based) are in error and revisions will be made by the PBO in Fall 2024. One political party relies on these numbers and another suggests they are inappropriate.
The major criticisms of Approach 2 are:
1. Approach 2 is not reliable since the calculations are based on the Parliamentary Budget Officer Report of 2023. The PBO has acknowledged that there are major errors in that Report and that it is under review, with a new report scheduled for late 2024. (See news stories May 29, 2024)
2. Approach 2 does not apply to a family's actual fuel use. Many Canadians are frugal in their use of fossil fuels. Approach 2 does nothing to acknowledge the reality of household CO2e GHG emissions, but rather looks at the estimated fiscal and economic cost for all of Ontario, calculating averages for 5 estimated income levels. Approach 2 does not promote personal responsibility respecting greenhouse gases. Approach 2 does not contemplate a family's individual efforts at reducing climate impact.
3. Approach 2 calculates economic cost without separating out other carbon pricing iniatives by the provinces and the federal government.
Calculation of CO2e based on Fiscal and Economic Costs (Please also see ECCC data page)
Carbon generated by you under Approach 2 and the corporations that supply you with goods and services: You don't pay a fuel charge directly for the fossil fuels, used in manufacture or production, by the businesses and utilities that supply you with electricity, steel, glass, aluminum, concrete, food, transportation, construction, and many other things you purchase. However, each of the goods and services you purchase has a carbon emissions history and an associated amount of $ in fuel charges that the business or utility has paid. The production of construction materials, for example, emits massive greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. How much of this carbon is your share? That's a very difficult question to answer, but the $ value of increased costs (according to economists) is related to your annual income. If the general fuel charge/carbon tax rate is currently $80 per tonne then if your $ value of increased indirect costs is $0 then it is arguable that you have purchased goods and services that generated 0 kg of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions during their production.
Footnotes:
1. See "Summary", p. 5, in "A Distributional Analysis of the Federal Fuel charge under the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan", Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 30, 2023.
2. This calculator assumes that there are 5 Quintiles of Total Annual Family Income. We have used the Quintile values in the "Supplementary Data File" attached to the PBO 2023 report. See the heading "Total income quintile definition, 2023-24".
References:
Assume propane emissions per 20 lb. cylinder 24 kg CO2 according to Natural Resources Canada site. Note: (20 Pound/s = 9.0718474 Kilogram/s) (Filled to 80% capacity)(1 kilogram of LPG (propane) = 1.96 litres)(Therefore a 20 lb. cylinder is 14.2246567 litres * 1.6878 CO2 kg/litre equals 24 kg)
Assume 1.932 kg CO2 emissions per cu. metre of natural gas. Enbridge says: "It is also assumed that 1m3 of natural gas emits 1.932 kg of CO2e. Environment and Climate Change Canada. National Inventory Report 1990-2020: Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada, 2022, Part 2, page 254-255."
Assume each litre of gasoline for light-duty automobile use generates 2.347 kg of CO2.
Natural Resources Canada, Auto$Smart, Learn the facts: Emissions from your vehicle
Canada Carbon Rebate amounts for 2024-25
Fuel Charge Rates for Listed Provinces and Territories for 2023 to 2030
Carbon Pricing Costs for Households and the Progressivity of Revenue Recycling Options in Canada
Find out if you qualify for the supplement for residents of small and rural communities
Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA)
Damage control: Reducing the costs of climate impacts in Canada
Which Canadian climate policies will have the biggest impact by 2030?
The PBO in its 2023 report uses 5 Quintiles of "Household Disposable Income" in its Appendix A: Climate Action Incentive payments and household net costs. See Table A-4 . The excerpts below are from the Supplementary Data Excel file attached to the Report. These two tables appear to connect the 5 Quintiles of "Total Income 2023-24" with the 5 Quintiles of "Disposable income", contained in the same Supplementary Data File attached to the 2023 Report. We have used the Total Income 2023-24 Quintiles in the calculator Annual Family Income dropdown rather than the "Disposable Income" Quintiles.
