Alberta’s premier and environment minister, who are also in Dubai at COP28, slammed the federal announcement.
OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the controlled release or burning of methane from oil and gas production sites will be almost entirely barred by 2030.
Guilbeault is in Dubai for the annual global climate talks, which this year are known as COP28.
He is publishing draft regulations today that aim to cut at least 75 per cent of methane emissions from the oil-and-gas sector by 2030, compared to what was emitted in 2012.
A federal review found in 2021 that Canada was on track to hit its current regulatory target of cutting methane output from oil and gas by 40 to 45 per cent by 2025, but more recent reports suggest methane leaks and releases are not well-documented.
Methane doesn’t stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but it is better at trapping heat, so cutting methane emissions is considered one of the most effective ways of reducing global warming.
Methane contributed just under 14 per cent of Canada’s total emissions in 2021, and the oil-and-gas industry accounted for 40 per cent of that.
Alberta’s premier and environment minister, who are also in Dubai at COP28, slammed the federal announcement.
Alberta’s own methane target was to reduce emissions by 45 per cent from 2014 levels. A report from the Alberta Energy Regulator shows the province achieved that goal in 2022, the province said.
“Instead of building on Alberta’s award-winning approach, Ottawa wants to replace it with costly, dangerous and unconstitutional new federal regulations,” reads part of the joint statement from Premier Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz.
Ottawa’s new proposed targets are “illegal” and “unrealistic,” the statement says.
“Given the unconstitutional nature of this latest federal intrusion into our provincial jurisdiction, our government will use every tool at our disposal to ensure these absurd federal regulations are never implemented in our province,” it concludes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2023.
The Canadian Press
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