Canada’s guest list at the United Nations climate conference, COP28, includes several representatives from the oil and gas industry, including executives from companies active in the exploitation of tar sands oil. The elimination of fossil fuels is one of the main issues in the negotiations taking place in the United Arab Emirates.
The United Nations has just published a list of some 80,000 participants in this conference, including the list of the Canadian delegation. Environment and Climate Change Canada had refused to send us the list in recent days, specifying that it would be published only after the end of the Dubai conference.
Reading the list of the Canadian delegation posted online by the UN, we see that the fossil fuel sector is once again well represented this year. There, as a “guest” from Canada, is a vice-president of Suncor, a company active in the exploitation of the tar sands. The oil sands industry is also represented by an executive from Cenovus Energy, the president and CEO of Meg Energy and a vice president of “sustainability” from Imperial Oil.
In addition to being invited to COP28 by Canada, these companies can also count on Alliance Nouvelles Voies, which has three representatives registered on the list. The vice-president of external relations of the New Pathways Alliance, Mark Cameron, is also scheduled to participate in a panel on “industrial decarbonization” at the Canada pavilion.
This alliance brings together six companies that exploit almost all of the oil from the tar sands, or nearly three million barrels per day. They nevertheless assert that they will be able to achieve “carbon neutrality” in the context of their production activities by 2050. The Competition Bureau is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether the New Ways Alliance uses commercial practices misleading by claiming that oil exploitation is on the path to carbon neutrality.
Like the COP27 held last year, the multinational Enbridge is one of the guests of the Canadian delegation. According to what Enbridge itself specifies, the company operates the largest network of pipelines and gas pipelines in North America, including nearly 14,000 km of pipelines in Canada alone. It is notably the company that operates the 9B pipeline, which transports oil to Montreal.
Carbon capture and storage
Other lesser-known oil and gas companies on the Canadian list include Tourmaline Oil Corporation, Whitecap Resources and Strathcona Resources. The latter company is particularly active in fossil fuel projects linked to fracking.
The gas sector also has representatives associated with liquefied natural gas projects, including the First Nations LNG Alliance and Energy for a Secure Future. Several organizations linked to the industry are also registered at COP28, including the Petroleum Technology Research Centre, which works in particular with the industry on reducing the “carbon footprint”, but also on “increasing production”. .
Alberta Innovates, which says it “supports” projects that “secure a long-term future for Alberta’s oil sands resources,” also has a representative in Dubai. The same goes for Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, which touts Alberta’s attractiveness for investments in the oil and gas industry, and Invest Alberta, which notably promotes carbon capture and storage.
Several supporters of carbon capture and storage projects are also on Canada’s guest list at COP28. The oil and gas industry is banking heavily on the development of this technology, which is still at the experimental stage, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, which reached 189 million tonnes in 2021. The federal government has also planned funding to support the development of this technology.
If humanity wants to give itself a chance of limiting global warming, the vast majority of unexploited fossil fuels must remain in the ground, however, concluded in 2021 a study published in the scientific journal Nature. Canada would thus have to give up no less than 84% of its tar sands oil reserves.
“Diversified” delegation
Questioned by The duty at the start of the week on the presence of representatives of fossil fuels, the office of the federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, insisted on the diversity of the delegation. “The Canadian delegation should not be tainted by the presence of a few individuals. In fact, the Canadian delegation is the most diverse, with clean technology having three times as many delegates as oil and gas,” the firm explained by email.
The minister’s office also affirmed that environmental groups “succeeded in keeping oil and gas out of the COPs” since the industry is not organizing any events at the Canada pavilion this year, unlike COP27, and only one panel planned for this pavilion gives them a leading role. Last year, Alliance Nouvelles Voies and Cenovus participated in a panel entitled “Collaborating to find solutions for the tar sands” at the Canadian pavilion.
“It is irresponsible for the Government of Canada to include representatives of the oil and gas sector in its delegation,” responded Julia Levin of Environmental Defense on Friday. “These companies are in Dubai in a desperate attempt to slow the energy transition and protect their profits. »
“It is unacceptable that fossil fuel companies, while they are the main responsible for climate change, are invited by the Government of Canada to COP28 and have privileged access to the negotiations,” deplores the head of the climate-energy campaign at Greenpeace, Patrick Bonin. “Not only are oil and gas companies planning to increase production, but it is also well documented that they are working hard behind closed doors to delay the climate action the world urgently needs. »