Canada Unveils Strategy to Reduce Oil and Gas Emissions by 35% by 2030

The Athabasca Oil Sands along the Athabasca River in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. dan_prat / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The Canadian government has issued a draft of new regulations for greenhouse gas emissions produced by oil and gas. The rules would limit Canada’s emissions to 35 percent below 2019 levels by 2030.

Most fossil fuels coming from Canada are produced in the oil sands of Alberta, with the United States as the largest importer.

“We’re asking the oil and gas sector to invest their record profits into pollution cutting projects,” Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, told a news conference, as The New York Times reported. “Every sector must do its part. Oil and gas companies are no exception.”

Guilbeault said profits from the oil and gas sector reached roughly $48 billion in 2022, reported Reuters.

“We’ve worked carefully to develop what is technically feasible for the sector, to keep industry accountable to their own promise to be carbon neutral by 2050,” Guilbeault said, as Reuters reported.

The cap-and-trade system created by the regulations is designed to recognize companies that perform better, while incentivizing higher polluters to invest in cleaner production, a press release from the Canadian government said.

“Canadians and their communities bear the brunt and pay the costs from increased extreme weather events due to climate change — costs that are reflected in the price of groceries, insurance, and local taxes. They understand that all sectors must do their fair share to decrease pollution and address climate change,” the press release said.

The oil and gas sector is the largest contributor to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, making up 31 percent in 2022, according to the newest National Inventory Report.

“The oil and gas greenhouse gas pollution cap would regulate upstream oil and gas facilities, including offshore facilities, and would also apply to liquefied natural gas production facilities. These subsectors represent the majority of emissions from the oil and gas sector, with the upstream subsector representing about 85 percent of sector emissions in 2022,” the press release said.

Canada is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, as well as the fifth-largest gas producer. As oil and gas demand peaks and starts to decline, the highest demand will be for fuels that are extracted while producing the lowest levels of pollution.

“The proposed regulations put a limit on pollution, not production, and have been informed by extensive engagement with industry, Indigenous groups, provinces and territories, and other stakeholders,” the press release said. “The climate decisions we make today will help contribute directly to a cleaner, safer environment and good jobs for future generations.”

Government consultations on the final regulations — which will be published next year — are ongoing.

“Every sector of the economy in Canada should be doing its fair share when it comes to limiting our country’s greenhouse gas pollution, and that includes the oil and gas sector. We are asking oil and gas companies who have made record profits in recent years to reinvest some of that money into technology that will reduce pollution in the oil and gas sector and create jobs for Canadian workers and businesses. The science is clear — greenhouse gas pollution must be reduced significantly and urgently to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change,” Guilbeault said in the press release.