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That follows the same upward trend as the federal carbon price, though it covers a smaller share of the economy.

The provincial standards are also changing. They fell by 1.25 percentage points for upstream oil and gas on Wednesday, reaching 97.5 per cent. That means producers will have to reduce the amount of emissions for each unit of output by at least 2.5 percentage points, relative to a benchmark, in order to avoid paying the charge.

Standards also tightened for other sectors — like mining, fertilizer production and pulp and paper — but by a smaller margin.

There are now a total of 63 facilities covered by the regulations, which are part of Saskatchewan’s Prairie Resilience climate plan. There are also an additional 16 groupings of upstream oil and gas producers.

According to David Stevenson, director of climate change policy and planning with the Ministry of Environment, there are signs that some companies will meet the targets.

“My anticipation is that many will be able to meet the compliance requirements in the first two years,” said Stevenson.

They have a grace period to get their act together. Emitters who fall short don’t have to pay anything until 2021, but the charges will have to cover two years of emissions going back to 2019.

Stevenson said the specifics of all three options are still being worked out, but the details of the technology fund and both kinds of credits should be announced over the coming summer to give emitters time to make their choices.