Posted September 11
At the end of August, Canada received a visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss energy issues. As everyone knows, due to the war in Ukraine, Germany is experiencing a severe gas crisis and the Chancellor is on a mission to secure supplies. After exploring his options in the Middle East and the United States, he was in Canada to shop for his energy.
At the G7 Summit held at the end of June and in anticipation of the Chancellor’s visit to Canada, the idea of numerous natural gas projects in eastern Canada was resurrected, including the highly publicized Quebec LNG project in the Saguenay, which had been refused by Quebec last December. We therefore took advantage of the geopolitical context and the European crisis to revive or plan the announcement of contested projects. After a few weeks of discussions, we quickly realized the technical and economic infeasibility and the lack of social acceptability for the relaunch of such projects, in Quebec in particular.
So, the chancellor and the prime minister have “turned around on a dime” and rather than focusing on natural gas exports, they have instead targeted green hydrogen. Although imperfect, green hydrogen is certainly much better than natural gas from an energy transition perspective. It also represents tremendous decarbonization potential for certain sectors, such as sites not connected to the electricity grid, such as remote mines which currently produce their electricity with diesel.
From there to say that we can move on to massive production, with a view to exporting, is a completely different story. Remember that at present, the hydrogen sector in Canada, as in Quebec, is almost exclusively composed of gray hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels). Before becoming a major player in green hydrogen on the continental and international scene, there are still many crusts to eat: lower production costs, development of major land and maritime transport infrastructures, securing of processes and transport, limitation of leaks that contribute to climate change, stabilization of demand, and this is only the beginning of the obstacles facing the development of the sector.
The least that can be said is that Canada is aiming big in its objective of significantly supplying Germany, even in the medium term.
Beyond its surprising nature, this volte-face is symptomatic of something deeper in Canada: the very nature of the development of our economy. In the now famous play I love Hydro, Christine Beaulieu launches that Hydro-Québec has the beaver syndrome. We make roadblocks, without knowing if we need roadblocks.
Similarly, the Canadian economy is a groundhog that digs holes. For more than 200 years, we have been digging holes. Holes to exploit the forest, then mines, oil, coal, gas and now to bury hundreds of kilometers of pipelines to transport liquid hydrogen. Even today, when the Canadian groundhog comes out of its hole and we talk to it about energy efficiency, it goes back there for two or three terms.
However, climate and environmental experts here and around the world are adamant: we can no longer continue to develop our economies in the same way. To do so would be to consider that the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of species and the deadly and irreversible impacts of climate change are the normal consequence of economic imperatives in the service of an elite. Building more cars, even if they are electric, is not a sustainable solution.
Producing more energy, despite its lower carbon footprint, is also not a sustainable solution if it is not accompanied by honest reflection that considers social and natural dynamics, at local and global scales.
After the Chancellor’s departure, an election campaign began in Quebec. Of course, we talk about the need to build new highways or our dependence on oil for another decade or two, but please, between now and October 3, let’s show a little originality and avoid the day marmot. During an election campaign, a discussion on energy sobriety and efficiency is certainly less eye-catching than announcing a rain of millions for new projects, but let’s keep in mind that they remain among the first strategies to adopt in the fight against climatic changes.