New Caps and New Concerns: Discussing the Federal Government’s Plan for Oil and Gas Emissions

This week on the podcast we discuss the Canadian Federal Government’s July 2022 discussion document “Options to Cut Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Achieve 2030 Goals and Net-Zero by 2050.”    Joining the discussion is our guest Sander Duncanson, Partner, Regulatory, Environmental, Indigenous and Land at Osler, a Canadian business law firm.

There are two policy options being proposed.  Option one is a new cap-and-trade system for the oil and gas sector in addition to the existing provincial carbon pricing systems already in place.  Option two proposes to modify the existing carbon pricing systems in each province, setting more stringent rules for oil and gas.

Jackie, Peter and Sander express a number of concerns about the proposal; the inefficiency of pricing carbon higher for one sector of the economy, the potential for unintended consequences from overlapping policies, including the potential to harm to smaller oil and gas producers, and the policy could potentially face legal challenges from the provinces creating uncertainty that could ultimately slow down investment and reduction in GHG emissions. 

The discussion document is asking for feedback to be submitted by September 30, 2022 and sent to PlanPetrolieretGazier-OilandGasPlan@ec.gc.ca. We encourage people to participate and express their views on the proposed cap on emissions.

Content referenced in this podcast:

• “Eradicating the Smoke Nuisance” from Energyphile.org
• Options to Cut Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Achieve 2030 Goals and Net-Zero by 2050.”    

Please review the ARC Energy Institute disclaimer.