Canada’s oil industry at odds with Trudeau over new 2030 climate plans

Canada’s oil industry at odds with Trudeau over new 2030 climate plans

PHOTO

CALGARY, Alberta- Canada's first emissions reduction roadmap relies heavily on the oil and gas sector to help Ottawa reach its 2030 climate goal, but there is a still a big gap between what industry and government say are achievable cuts.

Oil and gas is Canada's highest-polluting sector, accounting for 26% of total emissions. If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is to meet its climate target of reducing overall emissions 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, the oil and gas industry will need to make drastic cuts.

So far Canada has missed every emissions reduction goal it has ever set and oil and gas pollution has risen 19% between 2005 and 2019. Canada's new Emissions Reduction Plan, announced on Tuesday, aims to cut oil and gas emissions by 42% from current levels by 2030.

"Ambition is one thing, action is what's required," Suncor Energy Chief Executive Mark Little told a sustainability conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, adding industry needed to work with government to align climate targets.

The Oil Sands Pathway Alliance, a group of six Canadian oil and gas companies including Suncor, is targeting only a 32% cut by 2030. Their alliance, which accounts for 90% of northern Alberta's oil sands production, is