Canada’s oil industry at odds with Trudeau over new 2030 climate plans According to Reuters

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Canada’s first emissions-cutting roadmap relies heavily on the oil and gas sector to help Ottawa meet its 2030 climate goal, but there’s still a big gap between what the industry does and the government considers a reduction possible.

Oil and gas is Canada’s highest polluting sector, accounting for 26% of total emissions. If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government meets its climate target of reducing total emissions by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, the oil and gas industry will need to make drastic cuts.

Canada has so far missed every emission reduction target it has ever set, and oil and gas pollution rose 19% between 2005 and 2019. Canada’s new Emissions Reduction Plan, announced Tuesday , which aims to cut oil and gas emissions by 42 percent from current levels by 2030.

“Ambition is one thing, action is a must,” Suncor Energy (NYSE:) CEO Mark Little said at a sustainability conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, adding the industry need to work with government to align climate targets.

The Oil Sands Pathway Alliance, a group of six Canadian oil and gas companies that includes Suncor, has only targeted a 32% cut by 2030. Their alliance, which accounts for 90% of northern Alberta’s oil sands production, is on the way. towards net emissions reduction. in the year 2050.

“The Pathways Alliance has been clear that the interim goals set for our industry must be flexible, realistic and achievable,” Kendall Dilling, the group’s interim director, said in a statement.

The Liberal government, which has had a strained relationship with the oil and gas industry since coming to power in 2015, is also developing oil sands emissions limits as promised in the last election.

Trudeau said oil and gas leaders themselves recognize the need to achieve net worth by 2050.

“These are plans that align with the goals they’ve outlined themselves,” Trudeau said in a press conference after announcing the ERP.

WEIGHT LIGHT

According to Dave Sawyer, chief economist at the Canadian Climate Institute, Ottawa is relying on a number of levers to cut oil emissions, such as cuts in methane production, and new technologies including harvesting carbon capture and storage (CCS).

CCS involves capturing and permanently sequestering emissions underground, a costly process that the oil and gas industry wants public money to fund. After months of negotiations, Ottawa is expected to announce the CCS tax credit in its 2022 budget next week.

“It’s the industry’s job to reduce costs and transfer risk from their shareholders to others, so there’s a discussion here around subsidizing emissions cuts,” Sawyer said.

That came despite a surge in cash flows driven by rising crude prices as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global oil supplies.

Deborah Yedlin, executive director of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, a business lobbying group at the heart of the oil patch, said high commodity prices are likely to be short-lived and climate targets Acceleration will require more spending on commercial demonstration projects.

“The industry will therefore require government investment in technology through public-private partnerships,” Yedlin said.

Many environmental campaigners have criticized the oil and gas industry for not giving its fair share. The sector is expected to cut emissions by 31% from 2005 levels by 2030, far below the 88% reduction in the electricity sector, but still more than the 11% cut in the transportation sector. load.

“We need a hands-on approach to climate action, but under this plan, some sectors – especially oil and gas – will not contribute their fair share, leaving the burden on people’s shoulders. workers, consumers and other sectors, said Caroline Brouillette, national policy director for the Climate Action Network.

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