The federal government intends to propose a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emission rights (SPEDE) or a modification of the carbon emissions pricing system in its next reduction plan.
The goal is to cap GHG emissions for the oil and gas sector and reduce them by almost 40% by the end of the decade.
These two solutions are included in the consultation documents that the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault is to publish on Monday. This will be the first opportunity for Canadians to learn about the Liberals’ plans to put in place the cap on GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector as they promised in the last election.
The oil and gas sector accounts for more than a quarter of all GHG emissions in the country: 179 megatonnes in 2020. This is equivalent to what an automobile would emit if it circled the Earth at the height of the equator more than 17 million times.
“We simply cannot ignore the fact that the oil and gas sector is Canada’s largest emitter,” Guilbeault said at a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources in April.
What the Minister did not say at the time and what the consultation documents do not yet reveal is the precise level of the authorized ceiling. It could rise “to the present level”. Data from 2019, the year the Liberal pledge was made, showed emissions totaled 203.5 megatonnes.
Documents and government sources suggest that the projected cap in 2030 could approach that proposed in the Emissions Reductions Plan in March: 110 megatons. This represented a decrease of 46% from the 2019 level and 32% from the 2005 level.
The level of the oil and gas sector has not been this low since 1992. Over the past three decades, its emissions have increased by 83%. For all sectors of the country, this increase amounts to 23%.
Canada aims to reduce emissions from all sectors by 40% to 45% relative to 2005 levels by 2030.
Canadians have until September 21 to submit their brief on this project. Mr. Guilbeault hopes to present his final plan in early 2023.