His government remains bullish on the idea it can help industry innovate its way to a lower-carbon future, while enjoying the financial rewards that come with oil and gas. “We believe the path forward to address the climate challenge is not punishing people for living normal lives, but rather investing in technology that can make a huge difference,” he said in a November 2021 announcement of over $100 million in funding for emissions-reduction projects. Details on what those credits will look like are expected this year.Įven those who support carbon capture technology as a necessary immediate step to meet climate targets, including Chris Severson-Baker, the Alberta director of the Pembina Institute, don’t want an excess of public money invested in an industry that is “likely to decline in the not too distant future.”īut Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, for one, is undaunted. open letter to Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a group of over 400 academics cautioned against issuing a tax credit for new carbon capture projects, which they argue amount to a subsidy for fossil fuels, for an expensive technology that has a poor track record of hitting targets. The push for government funding also comes as oil and gas companies are pulling in big profits, and spending the windfall on stock buybacks and increased dividends for investors. Other technologies and priorities that don’t support the oil and gas industry are the way out of our woes, they argue. But both also call for the use of carbon capture, utilization and storage as a necessary tool to reduce emissions.Ĭritics of carbon capture technology see investments like those in the Prairies and argue it’s simply a way to prolong the lifespan of an industry that needs to put itself out of business if the world is to survive. Organizations like the International Energy Agency say demand for oil and gas will fall if governments are serious about achieving net-zero emissions, and Canada’s own net-zero ambitions would appear to contradict buoying the oil and gas sector. In Alberta, $1.24 billion has already been spent on just two operational projects, while Saskatchewan has not committed any funding for carbon capture projects but has expanded a current tax credit to carbon pipelines. The story is similar in Saskatchewan, where private investments in carbon capture and storage are primarily focused on using carbon to pull more oil out of the ground in an attempt to maintain the economy and bring down the industry’s footprint - a central reason Saskatchewan has the largest per capita emissions in Canada.īillions of public dollars are being earmarked for carbon capture, utilization and storage projects in both provinces as they grapple with federal climate targets, investor flight from fossil fuels and a changing world. It’s no wonder the province has been keen to invest in carbon capture technologies, including a recent announcement of $30 million for the design and engineering of new projects that promise to reduce emissions while allowing the oil and gas industry to continue. Alberta has a big emissions problem and an economy heavily dependent on the industry at the heart of those emissions.
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