The Canadian
government sees no contradiction in supporting the development of its
carbon-intensive oil sands while simultaneously touting its push towards a
low-carbon power system, says James Carr, Canada’s minister of natural
resources.
“You have to
develop your conventional resources at the same time that you invest in the
low-carbon economy, and it makes a lot of sense to take that wealth in the
ground and use the revenues from it to help finance the transition,” Carr said
Monday, taking questions at the Bloomberg New Energy Summit. “We think you have
to do both at the same time.”
When Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party took power in late 2015, many
expected a sea change on Canada’s energy and climate policies compared to his
Conservative predecessor Stephen Harper, a climate sceptic and oil industry
ally. More recently, however, Trudeau has disappointed many environmentalists
by approving several high-profile pipeline projects that seek to transport
carbon-heavy oil from Alberta to markets in the US and Asia.
Trudeau made
headlines around the world late last year by announcing a pan-Canadian carbon
price, set to go into effect in 2018. Yet last month at an oil industry
conference in Texas, Trudeau said: “No country would find 173 billion barrels
of oil in the ground and just leave them there.”
Speaking Monday
in New York City in front of many leaders of the US renewables industry, Carr,
a member of Trudeau's cabinet and Liberal Party, attempted to address the
inherent tensions in government’s energy positions – hitting optimistic notes
on the shift to renewables while defending Canada’s massive oil export
industry.
“As we make our
way around the world talking to nation states … the agenda is the same,” he
said. “Everybody knows the trajectory is clear – there’s a movement away from
fossil fuels – but it’s going to take a long time.”
“My own sense
is the pace of change is going to accelerate, but it’s not going to happen
overnight,” he added.
The policy of
the Trudeau government, then, is “to extract these [fossil fuel] resources more
sustainably, move them more safely, while investing in the lower-carbon
economy”.
“We have
consensus across Canada that that’s the way to go. We don’t have unanimity.
These projects are controversial. There are people who want to keep that stuff
in the ground. There are people who don’t [want any] regulations.
“But then there
are an awful lot of people in between, who say it should come out of the ground
sustainably and be moved safely while we look very clearly at the future energy
economy.”
Canada
installed 702MW of new wind capacity in 2016, less than half of its 2015
additions, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Still, its performance
was good enough to make it the world’s ninth largest wind market.
While important
new opportunities for renewables developers are opening up in the western
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the near-term picture looks fairly grim
in the historically core markets of Ontario and Quebec. One potential bright
spot is the prospect of selling power into the US, where New England states
like New York and Massachusetts have aggressive targets for renewables and
emissions reduction.
“Canada is
interested in further exports to the United States, including in New England,”
Carr said. “We think we ought to be working together as governments to take the
integrated energy environments we have now and build upon it.”
While the
prospect of trans-border electricity trading seemed to dim with the election of
“America First”-minded US President Donald Trump, Carr said that having met new
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry twice – including two weeks ago – he sees
ongoing reason for optimism.
“He said to me
both times that he believes the North American energy market is highly
integrated – and that that’s in the interest of all three nations,” Carr said.
“So that’s a very good place to start.”
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