The federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, is not closing the door to projects to expand the oil and gas industry in Canada, including in the marine environment. But he warns that this growth is likely to come up against increasingly severe climate regulations, which should promote the economic transition of some provinces.
Canada is one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas and petroleum, through the use of hydraulic fracturing and oil sands deposits, respectively. Companies in the sector are also forecasting an increase in operating volumes over the next few years, in order to meet growing global demand.
As part of an interview with the Duty, the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, stresses, however, that the fossil fuel industry will have to comply with increasingly strict regulations, which risks limiting its ambitions for growth. He cites as examples the commitment to cap and reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector, the planned increase in the carbon tax, and targets for reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG).
“For their projections to be realized, companies will have to face a price on pollution which will be $ 170 per tonne in 2030. They will have to face a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. So I think these projections precede several of the measures that we have announced and taken, such as methane regulations, ”argues the Minister.
“Either companies will find technological solutions that will make it possible to significantly reduce emissions, in particular so as to be below the emissions cap, or they will have to diversify,” adds Mr. Guilbeault. There are not 36 solutions. We cannot increase production, increase emissions and, at the same time, comply with new Canadian regulations. If there is an increase in production, that will have to be accompanied by a radical reduction in emissions. “
He declined to give details on the implementation of the promise to cap and then reduce GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector, relying on the consultation to be conducted over the coming months. “These consultations will have to be done fairly quickly, because I want this regulation to be in place as quickly as possible. Will it be in 2022 or early 2023? One thing is certain, it will not be 2025. We must learn to go faster in the deployment of our measures, in particular with regulatory measures. “
Transition
The new Minister of Environment and Climate Change, who has long campaigned as an environmentalist for an exit from fossil fuels, also believes that some provinces are increasingly talking about economic diversification projects, in order to reduce their dependence on the oil sector. and gas.
He says he recently discussed these issues with the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey. “Much of our conversation was about offshore wind. Newfoundland has very ambitious plans to diversify its economy. Basically, that’s the transition. Several provinces are starting to look at the future in a different way than with the development of fossil fuels, as has been done for several decades, ”he said.
However, the Trudeau government is not closing the door to new oil projects, especially off the coast of Newfoundland. At the start of the year, it authorized 40 exploratory wells in a maritime region recognized by the UN for its ecological and biological importance. This authorization responds to the wishes of the province, which hopes that 100 boreholes will be drilled over the next few years in order to double production in the marine environment, after 2030.
In a report released last month, Federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco noted that fossil fuel industries are hampering Canada’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions. “Even taking into account the dramatic reductions in oil sands emissions per barrel, Canada’s booming oil and gas production remains one of the main obstacles to meeting the country’s climate targets,” writes- he.
According to a report published earlier this year by the International Energy Agency, we must immediately abandon any new project for the exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels in the hope of limiting climate disruption and meeting the objectives of the ‘Paris Agreement.