As world leaders prepare to head to Egypt next month for the 27th United Nations climate change conference, environmental groups are urging the Canadian government to move quickly to announce an aggressive cap on emissions from the country’s oil and gas sector.
The Climate Action Network says it is afraid the federal government will “water down” its emissions cap in the face of industry pressure. It is calling on the government to unveil an ambitious cap on energy sector emissions with interim targets for both 2026 and 2030.
The Trudeau government indicated earlier this year that it would impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector in order to enable Canada to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target.
The government has not yet indicated what the allowable level of emissions will be, but Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said recently the cap will be announced in “a matter of months.”
The federal government has previously stated it believes Canada’s oilpatch is capable of reducing emissions by 31 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, or 42 per cent below 2019 levels.
A consortium of Canada’s largest oilsands companies has said that time frame is too ambitious. They have said they will get to net-zero emissions by 2050, but can only achieve a 30 per cent reduction from current levels by 2030.