Output-Based Performance Standards Program and the Saskatchewan Technology Fund
Saskatchewan’s Climate Change Strategy: Prairie Resilience
Saskatchewan’s climate change strategy, Prairie Resilience: A Made-in-Saskatchewan Climate Change Strategy, is a comprehensive approach to climate change that includes more than 40 commitments that allow Saskatchewan to continue to grow and prosper while contributing to Canada’s efforts to address the effects of a changing climate. The strategy focuses on five areas, including natural systems, physical infrastructure, economic sustainability, community preparedness, and measuring, monitoring and reporting.
1. Output-Based Performance Standards (OBPS) Program
Saskatchewan’s Output-Based Performance Standards (OBPS) Program is a key component of the province’s approach to climate change. Under Prairie Resilience, the OBPS Program requires reductions in emissions intensity across most sectors of the economy while maintaining economic competitiveness and protecting against carbon leakage – whereby industry moves productions and jobs to other countries with less stringent climate policies.
The OBPS Program was expanded in 2022 and updated in 2023, covering more industrial sectors and emissions and requiring regulated emitters to meet emissions reduction requirements or owe compliance. The updated OBPS Program helps to incentivize carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) by providing credits for emitters deploying CCUS at their facilities. The program also provides new revenue opportunities by allowing regulated emitters to generate and trade performance credits when their emissions intensity is below permitted levels.
The revised OBPS now covers the following emissions-intensive trade-exposed sectors:
- Electricity generation
- Agricultural and industrial equipment manufacturing
- Chemical manufacturing
- Ethanol manufacturing
- Fertilizer manufacturing
- Food and beverage processing
- Grain and Oilseed processing
- Iron and Steel mills
- Mineral product manufacturing
- Mining
- Pulp mills
- Wood product manufacturing
- Natural gas transmission pipelines
- Refining and Upgrading of Petroleum
- Upstream oil and gas
- Other sectors
Regulated emitters can obtain more information about the program under the Guidance for Emitters page.
2. Saskatchewan Technology Fund
OBPS regulated emitters who exceed permitted emissions intensity levels are required to pay compliance, which can be met by using performance credits or by paying into the Saskatchewan Technology Fund.
Payments to the fund are made available to regulated emitters through a competitive application process to support a range of market-ready technologies, innovations and improvement projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions at regulated facilities in Saskatchewan.
The fund announced its first intake in September 2023, with $25 million awarded to 13 projects across the province.
Key Achievements of the First Intake
- More than 4.5 million tonnes of CO2e emissions will be eliminated, equivalent to taking one million gas-powered cars off the road for a year or heating all homes in Saskatchewan for two years.
- The projects are expected to attract more than $277 million in additional investments, fuelling innovation and economic growth.
- The first intake supports energy savings of nearly five million gigajoules, comparable to heating nearly half the homes in Regina for a year.
The fund’s second intake was announced on January 16, 2025, with $50 million available to support industry-driven projects.
Details concerning the application and evaluation processes and related timelines, as well as project eligibility, can be found in the fund’s Saskatchewan Technology Fund: Governance, Administration and Operations Standard.
Looking for information on the current intake? Visit the Information for Applicants page.
Technology Fund Webinar
The Ministry of Environment hosted a webinar on October 26, 2023, that provided an overview of the Technology Fund and its first intake for regulated emitters.