2023-07-24 20:27:32
Ottawa is turning off the tap on “inefficient” subsidies to oil and gas companies, a move hailed by environmentalists who oppose the many exceptions included in the plan unveiled Monday.
«[…] From now on, for all federal investments, we have a new analytical framework, and this framework ensures that we will no longer invest in the production of oil and gas or coal in Canada, ”summarized the Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault in Montreal, Monday.
The potential savings will translate into “increased support for clean technologies”, as for example for the Quebec company Enerkem, which specializes in the transformation of biomass into biofuel.
Without giving a precise figure, the minister’s office estimates that 129 current subsidies would fall under the plan, for an estimated total of $1 billion spread over the last five years. However, it is difficult to estimate the money that this policy will save in the coming years.
no revolution
“In the grand scheme of things, I’m not sure this is a revolution,” says Simon Langlois-Bertrand, research associate at the Trottier Institute.
The latter believes that the benefit of the plan is to provide a “more precise” framework on what the government considers to be an “ineffective” subsidy.
However, gray areas persist: the plan contains six exemptions that risk leaving the field open to subsidies for projects that do not respect the spirit of the directive, in particular the first, which “allows significant reductions in net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada or internationally”.
“I see a lot of projects which, at first glance, might be defended by using this exception. This is where I am more skeptical regarding what it will give in practice, ”continues the expert. “I don’t see how it can change major in the short term.”
A half-hearted welcome
The initiative had been expected for many years in the ranks of environmentalists, who know how to put a lot of pressure on Minister Guilbeault, previously one of their own.
Greenpeace Canada says it is “happy”, Équiterre welcomes “an important first step to begin the transition of the oil and gas sector towards clean and renewable energies” and the David Suzuki Foundation is delighted with “a crucial and long-awaited step”.
However, the downside is the same everywhere: regardless of the project, companies from the oil and gas sector should no longer touch public funds.
In the words of Greenpeace, “there are no ‘effective’ subsidies for fossil fuels at a time of record-breaking climate disasters and oil industry profits, especially not for unproven technologies like carbon capture.”
More severe, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP demand that all subsidies be wiped off the map immediately.
“Justin Trudeau’s Liberals blatantly lie to us when they talk regarding ‘effective subsidies’ to the oil sector. It does not exist and is fiction,” said Monique Pauzé, Bloc environment spokesperson. “With so many exemptions, oil and gas will continue to be heavily subsidized in Canada.”
“While we know we’ve had to fight like hell to get the Liberals to where they are today, it’s clear that this announcement falls short of the urgency of the moment as climate disasters put everything we hold dear in jeopardy,” said Laurel Collins of the NDP.
According to the document unveiled on Monday, is exempt from this new directive any project that:
• “provides significant reductions in net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada or internationally”;
• “encourages clean energy, clean technology or renewable energy”;
• “makes it possible to provide essential energy services to a remote community”;
• “allows the provision of short-term support within the framework of an emergency intervention”;
• “encourages Aboriginal economic participation in fossil fuel-related activities”;
• “allows support for lean production processes or projects that come with a credible plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030”.
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