Canada ruffles some feathers at COP27 by including oil and gas representatives in its delegation
'The resource industry absolutely has to be there'
Canada’s delegation heading to the United Nations’ COP27 climate change conference this week in Egypt will not include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but there will be a Canada Pavilion for the first time and it includes representatives from the oilsands industry, which is attracting some intense criticism.
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Environmental groups and climate activists say the industry responsible for the country’s largest share of emissions should not be at an event dedicated to climate action. But that argument is being dismissed by some federal and provincial officials who argue Canada won’t meet its climate goals without significant input from industry.
“What’s happened, unfortunately, in the past, is sometimes climate-change goals have been set that pick a random date and a random reduction target with no technical, technological or economic means to get there, so we just missed the target and that’s what’s happened with the last nine climate-change targets in this country,” Alberta environment minister Sonya Savage said.
“The resource industry absolutely has to be there, because we have to have that honest, realistic conversation of what it’s going to take to get to net zero by 2050 (and) how difficult it is.”
The Canadian delegation led by federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault includes a mix of parliamentarians, labour groups, Indigenous and youth representatives, and the Canada Pavilion will also host a clutch of experts, bureaucrats and delegates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), provincial governments, crown corporations and the private sector.
This year’s event has attracted corporate representatives from the Royal Bank of Canada, pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. and oil majors Cenovus Energy Inc. and Imperial Oil Ltd. Attendees also reported seeing a representative from Suncor Energy Inc. at the Pavilion on Tuesday.
A panel presentation being hosted later this week at the pavilion by Pathways Alliance, which represents the country’s six largest oilsands companies, is expected to showcase the sector’s plan to slash emissions through a $16.5-billion carbon-capture and storage network in northern Alberta.
Inviting oil and gas companies to the table to discuss climate solutions may be anathema to environmentalists who perceive industry involvement as mere lobbying to enable the continued production of fossil fuels. But governments are facing stark choices because of the cost of decarbonization, so they may be motivated to find a path to net zero that won’t decimate an industry expected to contribute in the range of $48 billion to $50 billion in taxes and royalties to government coffers this year.
“There really is no solution without the industry. Yes, we acknowledge that we’re one of Canada’s largest emitters, but that’s also why we’re critical to the solution,” Pathways Alliance vice-president Mark Cameron said from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where COP27 is being held for the next two weeks.
“The very simplistic solution is to stop production and give up 10 per cent of Canada’s GDP, but the more constructive solution is, how do we use technology to maintain this industry but reduce emissions? The problem is not energy; the problem is carbon emissions.”
Part of the answer, say the Pathways Alliance and other heavy-emitting sectors of Canada’s economy, is making large investments in carbon-capture and storage projects and other clean technologies, ideally with direct or indirect support from governments in the form of loans, tax credits and grants.
These supports, the industry said, are essential to ensure Canada will be able to meet its carbon targets without painful economic contractions.
“Without the full participation of all industries, we won’t get there,” a spokesperson for Guilbeault said. “We must all do our fair share.”
Dramatic geopolitical upheaval since the last UN climate conference, including a global energy crisis resulting from tight energy supplies and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also hangs over COP27.
Savage said western democracies are at risk of ceding influence and market share to authoritarian regimes with poor environmental and labour track records, pointing to comments made on Monday by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan that his country will continue to supply oil and gas for “as long as the world needs.”
Savage said climate change must be addressed, but in a way that’s technologically and economically feasible in order to limit future energy crises. If energy policy is driven exclusively by climate policy, he added, production and investment will shift from places such as North America to places like Russia, Venezuela and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
“We have to have that honest conversation and admission that oil and gas is going to continue to be used for decades to come,” he said. “It’s about reducing emissions in oil and gas. It’s not about getting off oil and gas.”
mpotkins@postmedia.com Twitter: @mpotkins
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