Alberta’s New Carbon Emissions Reduction Policy Favors Natural Gas

“With the carbon price, you always have to judge against an alternative”. In a public briefing held Monday afternoon to discuss the government’s plans, new minister of science Kirstie Duncan kicked of the public event with a statement of objective, saying that “climate change is one of the most serious threats we face”.

It would phase out the use of coal-fired electricity in the province and replace it a mix of renewable energy and natural gas by 2030.

However, the Opposition says the NDP plan is a bad idea and that it will cost Alberta too much.

Several recent setbacks, including plunging oil prices, which spurred industry layoffs and companies such as Suncor and Royal Dutch Shell to ditch plans for new facilities, and President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline have sent the oil sands industry reeling. The province’s new methane reduction strategy is also expected to cut emissions by 45% from 2014 levels by 2025. “Alberta’s new climate change policy sends a clear message that Alberta intends to live up to those expectations”.

MacPherson also suggested the planned phase-out of coal-fired power plants will mean a loss of jobs and a shrinking tax base in small rural communities.

“In Iowa, where coal generation provided 70% of MidAmerican Energy’s electricity generation as recently as 2000, 57% of their retail energy load could be powered by wind generation by the end of 2017”, said Thon. Even as some of the country’s larger provinces led the way on carbon pricing, the Conservatives continued to mock such efforts as a “job-killing” tax grab.

Notley’s provincial colleagues are optimistic that Alberta’s climate-change plan, combined with policies from other provinces such as Ontario and Quebec (which have adopted cap-and-trade plans) and British Columbia (with a revenue-neutral carbon tax on fuel) will help rebrand Canada’s image on energy development and the environment.

“We are studying the announcements from the Alberta government to assess their impact on our existing operations and possible future projects in Alberta”, Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said in an email Monday.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark said he’s broadly in favour of the strategy, but he wants to know how the billions will be spent and allocated.

Long criticized as a source for “dirty oil” because most of the reserves are heavy bitumen deposits found in the province’s oil sands, Alberta’s left-leaning government created an unlikely partnership between oil industry executives, indigenous leaders and prominent environmentalists to forge the accord.

Among other things, the plan aims to cap oilsands emissions at 100 megatonnes annually – about 30 megatonnes more than the industry now emits.

Green groups such as 350.org praised it as a good first step, but called for more continued action.

Panel chair and environmental economist Andrew Leach estimated that this rebate would make about 60 per cent of Albertans better off financially than they would be without the carbon tax – implying the rest would be no better or worse off.

Oil sands producers are challenged by an outsized carbon footprint, related market access constraints, plus some of the industry’s highest carbon mitigation costs.

Notley said the gathering of first ministers has launched a new era of co-operation between the provinces and federal government, and highlighted a significant change of tone and substance with Trudeau’s Liberal government.