Federal Government Directly Supporting New Oil and Gas Expansion That Will Deplete 16% of the World's Remaining Carbon Budget, According to New Study From University of Waterloo Researchers
WATERLOO, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - When it comes to climate policy, Canada is operating with one eye shut by avoiding the climate consequences of the oil and gas sector and instead supporting the expansion of oil and gas production, which is driving along the country's increasing emissions, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Waterloo.
The research shows that rather than constraining oil and gas production, as the United States is beginning to do, or committing to phasing out fossil fuel production as France, Ireland, Denmark and others have announced, the Canadian government is directly fostering more oil and gas extraction, the largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, by providing a range of supports to the sector.
"Unless the Canadian government stops funding the expansion of oil and gas production and starts implementing federal regulations and measures, including just transition for affected workers and communities, as it has done with coal, Canada will not only fail to meet its domestic climate targets, it will unfairly consume a disproportionate share of the world's climate budget," said Dr. Angela Carter of the University of Waterloo.
The report shows that the Trudeau government has made important climate advances, such as pricing carbon and lowering emissions from electricity and transportation. However, these measures haven't resulted in the emissions reductions required to avert a deepening climate crisis.
Meanwhile, a variety of federal legislative options exist to reduce oil and gas expansion, including prohibiting the leasing of federal lands and waters for fossil fuel production and infrastructure, implementing a "climate test" on all new fossil fuel projects and canceling the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline.
The study, entitled Correcting Canada's "one eye shut" Climate Policy, also shows:
- Canada's 2021-2050 oil and gas production would exhaust about 16 per cent of the world's remaining carbon budget.
- The oil and gas sector in Canada is on track to emit some 200 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2050, the year Canada has committed to achieving net zero emissions.
- Banking on unproven solutions like carbon capture, utilization and sequestration without complementary supply-side restrictions won't help Canada meet its climate target — particularly when these solutions are designed to facilitate increased fossil fuel production over the next decades.
- The oil and gas lobby plays a dominating role in Canadian policy, obstructing supply side policy implementation. Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, fossil fuel industries and associations met with government officials 1224 times, more than 4.5 times per working day.
"The UK has an exclusion policy for fossil fuels, the United States plans to transition public financing away from fossil fuels, private investors are leaving the oil sands in droves, but Canada continues to increase oil and gas subsidies and supports that guarantee the expansion of oil and gas and the failure to meet our Paris commitments," said co-author Truzaar Dordi of the University of Waterloo.
The report is available at https://cascadeinstitute.org/technical-paper/correcting-canadas-one-eye-shut-climate-policy/
SOURCE Cascade Institute
For further information: Dr. Angela Carter, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science & Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo. Email: [email protected] Cell: +1 709 660 2564; Truzaar Dordi, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development, University of Waterloo. Email: [email protected] Cell: +1 226 868 5631
Share this article