Canada’s climate commitments risk putting the country at odds with its economic competitors, the director of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said on Friday.
According to Tim McMillan, as Canada ramps up its environmental ambitions at events like the climate conference this week in Scotland, the federal government must redouble its efforts to drag the rest of the world in its wake.
McMillan added that Canada’s carbon tax – the only one among the top ten oil-producing countries in the world – and its increasingly stringent methane regulations are examples where Canada may be singing solo when he should be part of a choir.
“I’m not saying Canada shouldn’t be taking a leadership role or that we shouldn’t be constantly improving, because we are. (But) we need a realistic holistic approach to pull others in our wake, ”he argued.
McMillan advocates an international system for countries to obtain emission reduction credits for actions such as selling low-carbon natural gas to replace coal. He is also calling for some sort of tax on carbon imports to protect domestic industries from competition from countries with lower climate targets.
Not anytime soon, said Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“It is very early to think that we will be able to go into the smallest details of what a credit system would look like,” he said on Friday from Glasgow.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, also in Glasgow, doesn’t believe Canada is straying too far from its peers.
A pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% was made by the United States and signed this week by 103 countries, including Canada. Major Canadian oil companies pledged net carbon emissions long before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formalized it in Glasgow, including a net zero commitment by 2050.