RNNR Committee Report

New Democratic Party Minority Report on Proposed Emissions Cap for Oil/Gas Sector

In the face of the looming climate crisis, Canada must take the rising emissions seriously from the oil/gas sector. We are the one country in the G7 that has missed every climate target and the country where emissions continue to rise. Therefore, when the Prime Minister stood at COP26 on November 1, 2021 and announced that Canada would be the first country to institute an emissions cap, people took notice.

However, we've learned that the Prime Minister made this move without any preparatory work on how such an emissions cap would be implemented. Bold statements, not supported by planning, have become a pattern with this Government and are damaging Canada's credibility on the international stage and slowing down responsible climate action.

Based on the testimony heard at the Natural Resources committee, New Democrats offer the following seven recommendations:

1. International promises from the Prime Minister on climate action must be more than performative

Since the November 2021 promise at COPP 26, no credible steps have been taken by this Government to implement an emissions cap. The Government continues to approve considerable increases in oil production, and emissions have begun to rise again (following a dip caused by the pandemic slowdown). The lack of follow-up by the Prime Minister on this bold promise has only eroded international and domestic confidence in the Government's approach to climate action. 

2. Canada must focus on meeting the targets it has already set

Canada has had nine climate plans since 1990 and has failed to hit any of its targets. According to the Federal Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner, Canada "has become the worst performer of all G7 nations since the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in 2015. New Democrats support the Environment Commissioner's statement that Canada needs to stop going "from failure to failure; we need action and results, not just more targets and plans."

3. Canada must address rising production if it is to be serious about emissions reductions

The Liberal Government continues to promote increases in oil and gas production while claiming it can reduce emissions by 40% within seven years. This is simply not possible. The International Energy Regulator states that production must drop by 75% if the world is to meet its 1.5-degree limit on global heating. And yet Canada's Energy Regulator forecasts an increase in oil production of 1.2 million barrels per day, which will only gradually decrease after 2032. The CER believes that Canadian oil production in 2050 will be roughly the same as today.       The Government must choose whether it is serious about supporting the expansion of oil and gas or is committed to serious reductions in emissions to prevent climate catastrophe.

4. Canada must develop a more robust and substantive process for evaluating the Government's ability to meet the targets and objectives of international agreements before agreeing to participate
5. Based on the promise made at COP26, the Prime Minister must set the emissions cap at 191 million tons or lower (based on 2019 data)

At the time of the Prime Minister's promise in 2021, the available emissions data was for 2019, representing 191 million tonnes. This should be the baseline year above which emissions can't rise. The need for additional GHG emissions data should not be used as an excuse for delay.

6. Canada must include scope three emissions

Most fossil fuel emissions, 80-85 percent, are produced when the oil and gas are burned, mostly overseas. In fact, in 2019, the emissions from the fossil fuels exported by Canada were 954 million tonnes, considerably more significant than Canada's total domestic emissions (730 million tonnes).

Any cap on emissions must include those that occur when fossil fuels are burned, not just when they are produced. Otherwise known as Scope 3 emissions, they represent an overwhelming majority of GHG emissions in Canada. To leave them out of any regulation under a cap would be irresponsible.

We heard testimony that: "the greatest concern isn't the production emissions; it's what happens when that product successfully gets to market and is burned. Those scope three emissions account for 85% of the GHGs from fossil fuels. The GHG emissions embedded in the fossil fuels Canada exports now exceed our domestic emissions. To ignore these scope three emissions is a moral abdication".

7. The Government must make a serious commitment to a clean transition

Canada's oil and gas sector has received billions in subsidies. The Government has spent over $21 billion on the TMX pipeline to build export capacity. To be serious about drastically reducing emissions, Canada must invest in clean energy and promote a major overhaul of Canada's energy portfolio so that clean technology receives priority.