Upcoming emissions limits for Canadian oil and gas by the end of 2023: minister – National
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Monday that limits on greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s oil and gas industry would be ready by the end of next year.
In an interview from Egypt, where he is attending the 27th UN climate talks, Guilbeault said the government is developing regulations in “record time”.
The final regulations are now expected to come out at least two years after the Liberals first promised a cap in their 2021 election campaign platform.
“We will have draft regulations possibly in the spring, in the first half of the year at the latest,” Guilbeault said. “And then the goal is to have complete regulations by Christmas, you know, record-level time to develop regulations.”
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COP27: Canada has made ‘tremendous progress’, says Guilbeault as emissions rise
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COP27: Canada has made ‘tremendous progress’, says Guilbeault as emissions rise
He noted that the regulations to apply clean fuel standards have taken more than five years.
The timeline will still be disappointing for many Canadian environmental organizations, who have begun their journey to the COP27 negotiations in the hopes that Guilbeault will at least use the event to bring out their children. limited number of places to start.
The only guidance came from the Emissions Reduction Plan published in March, which set a projected emissions target for oil and gas by 2030 of 110 million tonnes. That’s a 46% cut from 2019 levels and 32% from 2005.
Canada is aiming to cut emissions across all sectors by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Environmental Protection and the Canadian Climate Action Network both said at the start of COP27 that oil and gas needs to be at 60% of 2005 levels.
Aly Hyder Ali, oil and gas program director at Environmental Defense, said earlier this month that the meetings in Egypt are Canada’s opportunity to demonstrate to world leaders and Canadians “that the people of Canada are” they commit” to stick to the limits by announcing realistic goals.
Without that, we wouldn’t necessarily see much degree of certainty when it comes to policy, he said.
Emissions from oil and gas production account for about a quarter of Canada’s total carbon emissions and are 83% higher than they were 30 years ago. Total emissions in Canada were about 23% higher over the same time period.
Guilbeault, who sat at the environmentalist’s desk side at COP meetings before being elected as a member of Congress in 2019, now finds himself accusing his former colleagues of being “dishonest.” ” when asking him for information about the now limit.
“Listen, the people who say we should do it now will be the first to criticize me if I don’t do the proper consultations, like with the natives in Canada, for example. We have a constitutional obligation,” he said. “They know very well how our system works.”
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Canada’s rules for new regulations require a certain amount of consultation, including the publication of draft regulations and receipt of public comment on the draft before the final version. published together.
“Honestly, I think it’s a bit rude to say, ‘Well, you know, we want the hat right now,'” Guilbeault said. “They clearly know how it works. And we are cutting in half the time it takes to develop regulations.”
The limit is not the only clash between the federal government and environmental groups in Egypt. Several groups heavily criticized Canada for including oil and gas companies and banks that finance fossil fuel projects in the Canadian delegation.
On Friday, Pavilion Canada hosted an event with the Road Alliance, a consortium of major Canadian oil companies. Several environmental groups held a rowdy parade at the event.
Julia Levin, national climate manager at Environmental Defense, tweeted Monday that oil and gas companies are polluters with no good faith commitment to fighting climate change and that they don’t. should be allowed to participate in the negotiations.
“The presence of fossil fuel lobbyists is overwhelming at COP27,” she said. “They are spending a lot of money to be here and sell their wrong solutions like (carbon capture and storage.)”
Guilbeault says everyone should be seated at the table.
“I strongly disagree with my former colleagues from the environmental movement,” he said.
“I think it’s a very slippery slope when governments start to decide in a democratic society who can participate and who can’t.”
© 2022 Canadian Press
