According to Énergir, renewable natural gas (RNG) would be, for our quasi-gas monopoly, “the keystone to aligning with the 1.5°C trajectory”. Its 2023 Climate Resilience Report indicates that by 2050, if the illustrated trajectory is realized, RNG will have completely eclipsed fossil natural gas in buildings and will represent half (48%, p. 33) of natural gas intended for industries . The GNR distributed annually would then total 2.1 billion cubic meters, or 0.9 billion in the building sector and 1.2 billion in the industrial sector.
This determining role attributed to the GNR is easily explained, at least at first glance. First, as it is identical to fossil gas at the molecular level (CH4), RNG can be injected and burned directly in existing equipment. Furthermore, it is generally postulated that, the CO2 emitted during the combustion of RNG being biogenic in nature, it does not contribute to global warming. Finally, thus crowned with green, the GNR provides an easy response to the challenge of peak electricity demand which seems to haunt Hydro-Québec and the Minister responsible for Energy since they “discovered” that the fight against global warming will create pressure on the electricity network, especially if we continue to grant mega power blocks to energy-intensive companies.
What is it in fact? Is GNR truly and invariably “green”? Does it deserve to be called “renewable”? Will Quebec be able to provide the biomass necessary to produce 2.1 billion cubic meters of RNG each year without giving up essential ecological services? Do we really need to manufacture 900 million cubic meters of RNG annually to heat buildings, when there are other peak management solutions? What will be the lock-in effects of massive production of RNG on our unsustainable modes of production and consumption? Will the forests, already badly damaged, be able to support an intensification of biomass harvests in order to produce gas?
We will not find the answers to these questions in the Quebec Strategy on Green Hydrogen and Bioenergy, adopted in 2022 by the Legault government following a hasty consultation. On the other hand, a brand new research report reveals that the science of RNG is not as simple as we would like to believe and that RNG as a miracle solution to the decarbonization of Énergir is perhaps only a pipe dream . This report highlights that the development of the RNG sector has not been the subject of either a strategic environmental assessment or a broad public debate. It also indicates that the true potential for RNG production in Quebec is unknown, because published biomass estimates include large volumes that are already used in a more profitable or environmentally friendly way. Finally, it reveals that the RNG sector can, at least in certain cases, fuel global warming and not slow it down.
The report also notes the lock-in effect of the RNG industry on intensive livestock farming. He underlines that it is worrying to see the emergence in Quebec of mega slurry biomethanization plants, financially supported by the government, without it being demonstrated that the volumes of GHGs avoided are major in relation to the total emissions of these livestock farms. In the case of the production of RNG from forest biomass, which represents 80% of the technical-economic potential estimated for 2030, the report cites various studies which cast doubt on the alleged carbon neutrality of this fuel in the amount of time we have to slow the climate crisis. In fact, this type of RNG could cause an acceleration of global warming and contribute to a domino effect “because of high volumes of GHG emissions in the short term and carbon debt in the long term”.
The state of science does not lead to the conclusion that RNG should be completely excluded from the energy mix of the future, but raises unavoidable questions regarding the volume to be produced, the way of doing it and the uses to prioritize. How to answer these questions? By resorting to a rigorous, legitimate procedure, consistent with the precautionary principle and appreciated by the population of Quebec: an investigation and consultations carried out by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE). This procedure should be integrated into the “generic BAPE” on Quebec’s energy future that civil society has been calling for for over a year.
Let’s stop rushing headlong into the large-scale development of a sector of which we really know neither the risks nor the limits. The stakes are high: the success or failure of the decarbonization of Quebec’s energy system and the just transition for the workers concerned depends on it.
*The signatory organizations: Carole Dupuis, spokesperson, UNEplanète eco-citizen movement; Bruno Detuncq, Hydrocarbons Vigilance Group Quebec; Andréanne Brazeau, climate policy analyst, Équiterre; Denis Blaquière, president, Quebec Common Front for Ecological Waste Management; Stéphanie Harnois, communications and public affairs specialist, David Suzuki Foundation; Jean-Pierre Finet, analyst and spokesperson, Grouping of Environmental Energy Organizations (ROEÉ); Maude Prud’homme, social ecology agent, Quebec Network of Environmental Groups; Myriam Thériault, general coordinator of Mères au front; Normand Léo Beaudet, Rivière du Nord Landfill Alert Coalition (CAER); Sylvie Beauregard, Mothers at the Front and her allies from the Eastern Townships; Marc Brullemans, president, Mobilization Climat Trois-Rivières; Jacques Lebleu, Ahuntsic-Cartierville Environmental Mobilization (MEAC); Lucie Bergeron, member of Capitale-Nationale transition; Réal Lalande, president, Action Climat Outaouais (ACO); Lucie Massé, spokesperson, Action Environnement Basses-Laurentides (AEBL); Quentin Lehmann, Ecothèque; Sylvie Berthiaume, vice-president, Solidarité Environnement Sutton; François Geoffroy, co-coordinator, Workers for Climate Justice (TJC).
*Academic signatories: Damon Matthews, professor of climate sciences, Concordia University; Louise Hénault-Éthier, director of the Water Land Environment Center, associate professor, National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS); Laure Waridel, ecosociologist, associate professor, Institute of Environmental Sciences of UQAM; René Audet, professor and holder of the Research Chair on ecological transition at UQAM; Jesse Greener, professor, Department of Chemistry, Université Laval; Éric Notebaert, vice-president of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment; Jean-Philippe Waaub, Scientific collective on energy issues in Quebec; Jonathan Durand Folco, associate professor, School of Social Innovation, Saint Paul University; Cathy Vaillancourt, full professor Center Armand Frappier Santé Biotechnology, National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS); Olivier Riffon, professor of eco-consulting, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi; Tarek Rouissi, assistant professor, Water Land Environment Center, National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS); Louise Vandelac, full professor, Department of Sociology and Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM, co-editor-in-chief of VertigO and director of CREPPA; Sophie L. Van Neste, professor at INRS and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Urban Climate Action.