General
Canada Moves to Limit Oil and Gas Industry Carbon Emissions
The Trudeau government has focused on the oil and gas production industries because the large amounts of energy they use make them the country’s largest source of greenhouse gases.
Canada announced regulations on Monday to cap carbon emissions from its oil and gas industry and reduce the release of greenhouse gases, a move bitterly opposed by the energy industry and met with lukewarm support from some environmentalists who say the rules are not strict enough.
Canadian officials said the country would cut emissions from its energy sector by 35 percentover 2019 levels by 2030. The regulations, which include financial incentives and credits, flesh out the announcement last December by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government that it intended to limit emissions.
The United States is the largest importer of Canadian fossil fuels, with most coming from oil sands in Alberta, which require large amounts of energy for production.
Canada’s oil and gas industry is the country’s largest source of carbon emissions, accounting for about one-third of the overall total.
While some oil sands operations have reduced the amount of carbon emitted for each barrel they produce, overall production has increased, raising emissions from oil sands by 142 percent over the last 19 years.
