The Trudeau government will pledge on Thursday to phase out international public funding for the fossil fuel sector by the end of 2022, learned The duty. This announcement, planned as part of the 26e UN climate conference (COP26), however, does not concern funds granted to Canada to oil and gas producers, which the Liberals have also promised to eliminate.
According to information obtained on Wednesday from sources well acquainted with the matter, Canada has decided to join an initiative which should include some twenty countries which undertake to end international public support for fossil fuels (coal, petroleum). and natural gas) by the end of next year.
The announcement must be confirmed Thursday at COP26, as part of a thematic day devoted to “energy”. It will be an opportunity for the countries that sign this declaration to announce that their funding will henceforth be oriented towards renewable energies, in order to promote the energy transition and the achievement of the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement.
However, it is difficult to calculate how much of Canadian public funds will be diverted from energies whose combustion is responsible for most of the disruption of the global climate. Based on the available data, the director of national policies of the Climate Action Network Canada, Caroline Brouillette, estimates that support reaches at least $ 2 billion per year. Same story with Greenpeace spokesperson Patrick Bonin.
The Trudeau government pledged during the election campaign to eliminate from 2023 “subsidies to the fossil fuel industry”, which must include subsidies granted on Canadian soil. The Liberals also pledged to “develop a plan to phase out public funding for the fossil fuel sector, including crown corporations, in line with its commitment to the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The federal government has not cut back on aid to oil and gas companies through its Export Development Canada (EDC) agency for 15 years, revealed The duty last August. The record of the Trudeau years even shows a slight increase in these nudges to this industry compared to the years of the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. The fossil fuel sector has received federal aid of almost $ 10.7 billion per year, on average, under the Trudeau government. This assistance does not include public funds spent on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Buyout and Expansion Project.
Billions of dollars
Canada is now ranked at the top of the list of G20 countries for its financial support to fossil fuel producers, according to a recent report published by Oil Change International. The report, which includes the years 2019 and 2020, sums up loans, loan guarantees, grants, share purchases and insurance coverage provided to producers by governments, government agencies and multinational development banks. government owned.
Globally, this support amounted to nearly 78 billion last year, down from the 2015-2017 average of 111 billion. The report acknowledges that not all countries are equally transparent, with information from countries like China and Saudi Arabia more difficult to obtain. But he found Canada to be at the top of the grant list, providing an average of nearly $ 14 billion a year between 2018 and 2020.
Canada is a major producer and exporter of oil and natural gas. The industry also wants to increase its production over the next few years. In a context where the Trudeau government has promised to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions attributable to extraction, companies hope to develop carbon capture and storage projects to reduce their emissions while increasing the production.
To help them, the Trudeau government provided $ 319 million for “development and demonstrations aimed at improving the commercial viability of technologies” for capturing, storing and using CO.2, as part of its most recent budget.