Madam Speaker, the science is clear. Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly and urgently to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, like wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and the associated impacts and costs to human health and infrastructure. It has been frustrating in this place to see most of the debate focused not on how we are going to fight climate change and put our best foot forward, but on a fight with the Conservative opposition about whether there should be a fight at all.
We are committed. Action on climate change is essential to avoid the natural disasters impacting our communities. These disasters impact clean air, damage our homes and workplaces and result in large costs, be it to individuals through increased costs of insurance or to governments to invest in adaptation, cleanup and rebuilding. We owe it to the future generations, our communities, children and grandchildren, to take action. We can do the hard work to fight climate change now, or we can pass on the natural disasters and increased costs to the next generation.
I and the Liberal government believe in the need to take climate action now as an economic necessity and as a matter of generational fairness. Capping and reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector is an essential part of this effort. The oil and gas sector is Canada's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and one of the only parts of the economy where emissions continue to grow.
In December, the federal government published a proposed regulatory framework for the emissions cap for comment. The oil and gas emissions cap will apply to emissions. That is what the atmosphere sees and that is what we must reduce. It will ensure that the sector invests in maximum technically achievable decarbonization to achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030 and to get on a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050.
No other country has capped emissions from oil and gas production. As the world's fourth-largest oil and gas producer, Canada has a responsibility to address these emissions, but it is also important to get the details right: The regulatory process the government is following must be rigorous, open and transparent. Our regulations must be evidence-based with costs and benefits assessed thoroughly.
We are working closely with provinces, indigenous partners, civil society and industry while remaining attuned to considerations such as the need for ongoing investments to significantly decarbonize the sector. We also need to minimize the risk of carbon leakage and avoid Canadian production simply being replaced elsewhere by countries where weaker GHG emissions standards apply. We are committed to a cap on emissions from oil and gas that works, and I hope to be able to provide a further update shortly.