Thank you so much, Chair Iacono and members of the committee, for inviting me to address your Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development today.
I am pleased to be here to provide the committee with specific details and an update on Alberta's “Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan”. Plenty has changed since my government drafted this plan and released it in 2023, and I think it's important to outline how we are adapting to the new global geopolitical realities, energy security, affordability concerns and economic challenges facing all Canadians today.
Alberta's emissions reduction and energy development plan was designed to be pragmatic and achievable and to ensure that Albertans have access to affordable and reliable energy, whether it be for commercial businesses or for individuals. Our plan is geared to a 2050 carbon-neutral economy.
Alberta is a global leader in emissions reductions and has made major progress on several fronts. We were the first province to adopt a carbon price in 2007 and what we call our TIER program, which is an industrial program that is renowned for supporting innovation and research in emissions reduction in many sectors, including oil and gas. Alberta achieved methane targets based on 2014 to 2023 levels three years ahead of requirements, and industry continues to make investments to lower our methane emissions. It is not known to many that Alberta also phased out coal-fired electricity in 2024, well ahead of schedule.
Alberta's oil sands have reduced emissions per barrel by 25% since 2013, and we have kept our overall emissions flat while increasing production. This has been achieved by reducing our natural gas use and enhancing steam-to-oil ratios and new solvent-assisted extraction. All of these are lowering the overall intensity per barrel.
As Canada's energy leader, we are on a path to double oil production and ensure that Canada can attract capital back to Canada, significantly enhance GDP, reduce our dependence on the United States and create hundreds of thousands of jobs while diversifying our trade markets globally.
Alberta's endowment of natural resources is greater than that of many of the G7 countries, even if you combine some of them. We just finished a review of the province's resources, and our reserves now amount to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, of which 167 billion are recoverable with today's technology. We also have 1.36 quadrillion cubic feet of gas, of which 144 trillion cubic feet are recoverable with today's technology.
Canada and Alberta can be a global energy superpower. We can unleash massive new investment in data centres, infrastructure and petrochemical development. Oil and gas can deliver tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars in royalties and taxes, and thousands of good-paying jobs that support wealth generation across all provinces. We're advancing our ambitions with a new oil pipeline and the necessary emissions reduction from our oil sands producers that lead the Pathways initiative.
There is one problem. We need to decouple and eliminate a host of bad laws introduced by the Trudeau government over the past 10 years. The most egregious of those investment killers include the oil and gas emissions cap, the unconstitutional Bill C-69, which we call the no new pipelines bill; Bill C-48, the oil tanker ban; and the clean electricity regulations, which penalize Alberta's power sector, will drive up energy prices for Canadians and make natural gas a disadvantaged feed stock.
These regulations and draft policies have resulted in economic stagnation and one of the single greatest acts of self-harm in Canada's economic history. As a result of these policies—and there are more than the ones I listed—in the last 120 days, Canadian-based companies have announced more than $20 billion in capital investment in the United States.
Canada can be a global energy powerhouse. We can provide our people and the world with reliable energy and eliminate energy poverty for billions of people. We can act, and we must act, to enable investments in every major resource sector and deliver revenues and economic activity in support of this great country.
Canadians have been clear in recent polling. They endorse a new pipeline to export our oil to Asia. We need the federal government to do the right thing and eliminate these bad laws.
Although I'm pleased that we've seen progress with the pause of the gas car ban and the removal of the consumer carbon tax, there is still much more to do. Our country's economic viability is hanging in the balance, given the forthcoming changes in manufacturing and steel and aluminum and a very difficult CUSMA renegotiation. We must unleash our energy strengths as a country, and Alberta stands ready if Ottawa works with us to do the right thing.
Thank you. I look forward to answering your questions.