Alberta supports industrial carbon pricing, Premier says
Emma Graney ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/emma-graney/)Energy[/url] reporter
Published YesterdayUpdated 37 minutes ago
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36 Comments ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-alberta-supports-industrial-carbon-pricing-premier-danielle-smith-says/#comments[/url])
Alberta has no plans to cancel its carbon pricing on large emitters, which Premier Danielle Smith says is key to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from its oil and gas sector.
But the province also has no intention of setting interim targets any time soon to reduce pollution from any industrial sector as it pursues its goal of bringing emissions to net zero by 2050, Ms. Smith told a Globe and Mail editorial board on Thursday.
Alberta’s United Conservative government released its Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan more than a year ago. As part of that plan, it promised to establish Indigenous and youth consultation groups, examine lowering the oil sands emissions cap, and said it had already hired a third party to develop sector-by-sector targets.
It has not done any of that ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-alberta-fails-to-move-needle-on-emissions-reduction-plan/[/url]), nor has it released any reports documenting its progress on any area of the plan.
When asked whether Alberta would set interim targets to reach its net-zero goal, Ms. Smith said her government was “taking a different approach.”
“We expect our businesses to be carbon neutral by 2050, so that is our target, and every business is going to have a different pathway to get there,” she said.
For example, the oil and gas sector was Canada’s largest source of emissions in 2022, accounting for 31 per cent of the country’s total.
The majority of that came from the oil sands in northern Alberta. Absolute emissions from oil sands production were flat in 2022 even as total production grew, according to an analysis by S&P Global Commodity Insights. It also found that the intensity of oil-sands production, which measures the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output, decreased slightly.
Ms. Smith pointed to the reduction in the oil sands as proof of the effectiveness of carbon pricing on large emitters.
“We’re going to continue with an industrial carbon-pricing strategy because it is working,” she said.
The largest companies in the oil sands are aiming to bring production to net zero by 2050, in part through a massive carbon capture project. It’s that kind of innovation that Ms. Smith said will be crucial to Alberta meeting its broader goal.
“We have made progress and we’re going to continue to make more. I’m just not going to set arbitrary targets until I know that the technology exists to achieve that,” she said.
As with the oil sands, the government seems to be banking on private industry making investments in emissions-reducing technology and projects to meet the province’s 2050 goal.
Ms. Smith pointed to Dow Chemical, for example, which plans to begin an $11.5-billion facelift ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-dow-chemical-announces-115-billion-project-in-alberta/[/url]) and expansion of its Edmonton-area chemicals plant next year to build the world’s first net-zero ethylene cracker. She also listed Heidelberg Materials’ project to develop the cement industry’s first global full-scale carbon capture and storage facility as part of its Alberta plant.
“They become the standard by which new businesses are going to be judged so that when capital turnover happens, we will expect each of the companies in those industries to use the best available technology,” Ms. Smith said.
The Premier argued that setting interim targets about how the province intends to bring its entire economy to net zero in just 25 years isn’t practical until technologies including carbon capture, small modular nuclear reactors and hydrogen can be scaled and regulatory processes are in place.
“I just frankly don’t know when that technology is going to be available to set our timelines,” she said.
“I know that the federal government likes to put out arbitrary targets and then never meet them. We actually like to put out targets that we know are achievable.”
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Emma Graney ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/emma-graney/)Energy[/url] reporter
Published YesterdayUpdated 37 minutes ago
For Subscribers
36 Comments ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-alberta-supports-industrial-carbon-pricing-premier-danielle-smith-says/#comments[/url])
Alberta has no plans to cancel its carbon pricing on large emitters, which Premier Danielle Smith says is key to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from its oil and gas sector.
But the province also has no intention of setting interim targets any time soon to reduce pollution from any industrial sector as it pursues its goal of bringing emissions to net zero by 2050, Ms. Smith told a Globe and Mail editorial board on Thursday.
Alberta’s United Conservative government released its Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan more than a year ago. As part of that plan, it promised to establish Indigenous and youth consultation groups, examine lowering the oil sands emissions cap, and said it had already hired a third party to develop sector-by-sector targets.
It has not done any of that ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-alberta-fails-to-move-needle-on-emissions-reduction-plan/[/url]), nor has it released any reports documenting its progress on any area of the plan.
When asked whether Alberta would set interim targets to reach its net-zero goal, Ms. Smith said her government was “taking a different approach.”
“We expect our businesses to be carbon neutral by 2050, so that is our target, and every business is going to have a different pathway to get there,” she said.
For example, the oil and gas sector was Canada’s largest source of emissions in 2022, accounting for 31 per cent of the country’s total.
The majority of that came from the oil sands in northern Alberta. Absolute emissions from oil sands production were flat in 2022 even as total production grew, according to an analysis by S&P Global Commodity Insights. It also found that the intensity of oil-sands production, which measures the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output, decreased slightly.
Ms. Smith pointed to the reduction in the oil sands as proof of the effectiveness of carbon pricing on large emitters.
“We’re going to continue with an industrial carbon-pricing strategy because it is working,” she said.
The largest companies in the oil sands are aiming to bring production to net zero by 2050, in part through a massive carbon capture project. It’s that kind of innovation that Ms. Smith said will be crucial to Alberta meeting its broader goal.
“We have made progress and we’re going to continue to make more. I’m just not going to set arbitrary targets until I know that the technology exists to achieve that,” she said.
As with the oil sands, the government seems to be banking on private industry making investments in emissions-reducing technology and projects to meet the province’s 2050 goal.
Ms. Smith pointed to Dow Chemical, for example, which plans to begin an $11.5-billion facelift ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-dow-chemical-announces-115-billion-project-in-alberta/[/url]) and expansion of its Edmonton-area chemicals plant next year to build the world’s first net-zero ethylene cracker. She also listed Heidelberg Materials’ project to develop the cement industry’s first global full-scale carbon capture and storage facility as part of its Alberta plant.
“They become the standard by which new businesses are going to be judged so that when capital turnover happens, we will expect each of the companies in those industries to use the best available technology,” Ms. Smith said.
The Premier argued that setting interim targets about how the province intends to bring its entire economy to net zero in just 25 years isn’t practical until technologies including carbon capture, small modular nuclear reactors and hydrogen can be scaled and regulatory processes are in place.
“I just frankly don’t know when that technology is going to be available to set our timelines,” she said.
“I know that the federal government likes to put out arbitrary targets and then never meet them. We actually like to put out targets that we know are achievable.”
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