When Canada invests in carbon fairy tales, we all lose |
On Nov. 16th, Canada received the “Fossil of the Day Award” at COP 30, shaming the country for its activities that hinder progress against global warming.
A key reason was Canada’s reversal of the goal to phase out fossil fuels, instead committing to increasing oil extraction — including committing $21.5 million to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in Alberta’s oil patch.
Behind shiny pipes and piles of money lurks a fairy tale that Canada could produce, refine, ship and burn oil, with substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) being captured and harmlessly pumped into the ground, never to be seen again. This is inaccurate.
CCUS at a record scale is featured in the Nov. 27th Memorandum of Understanding between the federal and Alberta governments. The goal is to finance and to build the world’s largest CCUS project, ostensibly to produce the “lowest carbon intensity barrels of oil” in the world. In other words, less CO2 would enter the atmosphere to fill the barrel, but the oil would be just as polluting to ship and........