Fossil fuel subsidies will feature prominently in climate policy debates when Parliament resumes, with a particular focus on how Ottawa intends to fulfill its recent pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2023 – two years earlier than initially promised.
The government’s commitment to phase out public funding for fossil fuels – which the government does not view as a subsidy – also deserves public attention. It is this support in particular that has ensured that Canada is singled out on the world stage as one of the greatest promoters of fossil fuels.
At the UN climate conference in November, Canada joined more than 30 countries pledging to phase out “direct” support for fossil fuels abroad by the end of 2022. Yet , this only represents a portion of the overall funding of fossil fuels by Canada, most of which is earmarked for projects in Canada.
The Natural Resources Minister said in November that a timeline for a complete phase-out, including domestic funding, would be announced “in the coming months.”
As the government works on this timeline, three facts should be kept in mind.
First, supporting the growth of the oil and gas industry is in direct contradiction to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 ° C – a level beyond which deadly climate impacts will become much greater, affecting hundreds of people. millions more people. Experts say that in order to meet this target, no new oil and gas field can be developed and that the vast majority of oil sands reserves must remain untapped.
Second, Canada supports this industry with more public funding than any other G20 country. Most of this funding comes from Export Development Canada (EDC), which provided an average of $ 13.6 billion in loans, insurance and other support to the oil and gas industry each year from 2018 to 2020. This includes billions of dollars in loans for projects such as the Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines.
Third, you should know that Export Development Canada does not intend for the moment to end its support for fossil fuels.
The Crown corporation has pledged to cut some of its support for oil and gas exploration and production. But it remains free to maintain or even increase its support for other types of fossil fuel development – new pipelines or refineries, for example, which play a vital role in expanding oil and gas production. .
You have to face reality. This demands that we end the oil and gas industry. Credible climate leadership would at the very least require cutting off the flow of public money that helps it thrive.
Ottawa should commit to ending all public financial support for the development of fossil fuels, of any kind, in Canada or abroad. Doing less would put us out of step with the urgency of the climate crisis.
* Above Ground is a Makeway Charitable Society project that works to ensure that businesses based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment.