Thank you, and thanks for the invitation.
I'm joining from the unceded territory of Algonquin Anishinabe peoples, also called Ottawa.
I'd like to start with today's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which frankly paints a terrifying picture of our future if Canada and the world doesn't tackle fossil fuels with the urgency needed.
The report states:
“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future”.
The blind spot in climate change for Canada for 30 years has been the oil and gas industry. While other sectors have reduced greenhouse gas emissions, oil and gas companies massively increased their production and emissions, and emissions from Canada's fossil fuel exports are increasing even more rapidly and are now greater than Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions. Now, however, Canada has an opportunity to shine a light on that blind spot and to address the root cause of climate change: fossil fuel production and use.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to cap oil and gas emissions today and to ensure that they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net zero by 2050. This will be the defining moment for the Prime Minister's legacy on climate change.
The oil and gas lobby will attempt to weaken, delay or kill this policy because it disrupts their business model of pumping more and more fossil fuels into the global market and more and more carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Many companies, including the major oil sands companies, have actually pledged to reach net zero by 2050, the goal of this policy, so why have so many oil executives already opposed it? Pure greenwashing. Their net-zero plans are vague and weak, with far-off promises, loopholes to allow emissions reductions from other sectors and other countries, a reliance on false solutions for the oil and gas sector, like carbon capture and storage and blue hydrogen, and an expectation that Canadian governments will hand over $50 billion or more in subsidies to realize them.
The Prime Minister must not blink from the inevitable pressure and hostile attacks from big oil's lobby and PR machine. The IPCC noted that misinformation and active resistance to climate action from the oil and gas industry have made us more vulnerable. It's time for the federal government to act in the interest of all Canadians.
Capping oil and gas emissions is a key part of this, but to do so, the government must do the following:
One, set hard caps for 2025 and 2030 that represent the oil and gas sector's fair share of emissions reductions. For 2030, that's a 60% reduction below 2005 levels, or 65 million tonnes.
Two, include all emissions from the production and use of oil and gas. Addressing only production emissions means ignoring 80% of the problem.
Three, deny subsidies and loopholes to oil and gas companies. The polluter pays principle must apply here. Canadian oil and gas companies will make $200 billion in profits in 2021 and 2022, and yet they shamelessly go to Canadian governments, cap in hand, asking for corporate welfare to reduce emissions.
Four, put people first. The oil and gas cap must be aligned with a full and sincere implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a fair, managed and government-funded transition for workers and communities.
These are ambitious caps that we're calling for, but they are possible, and they are appropriate, so how can these caps be met? In addition to placing a hard cap using the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, there are four complementary actions that the federal government should take.
First, stop approving new oil and gas projects. Economic attrition would shrink Canadian oil and gas production by over 30% this decade and reduce carbon emissions commensurate with that. That includes the offshore oil project Bay du Nord, which will be a carbon bomb for the planet.
Two, strengthen methane regulations immediately. At least 20% of GHG emissions from oil and gas facilities are in the form of methane, and yet reducing those is very cheap. Today, methane from oil and gas can be reduced by 88% at less than $25 a tonne.
Three, call the industry's bluff on emissions intensity. The industry has committed to getting to net zero by 2050. If that were achievable, then emissions intensity should improve considerably in this decade.
Four, remain steadfast on a hard, enforceable cap, with still penalties for non-compliance. If the other three measures aren't enough for the oil and gas sector to do its fair share of emissions reductions, then companies will have to curtail production. The alternative is to let companies escape responsibility and impose catastrophic impacts on the rest of us.
This is a critical test for the Prime Minister. Despite the progress on climate policy in recent years, Canadian greenhouse gas emissions remain unacceptably high. The Prime Minister must remain steadfast in the face of the inevitable ferocious attacks from the oil and gas lobby and put into place robust regulations to curb pollution from Canada's biggest polluters.