Page 4 - NorthAmOil Week 32 2021

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil
Kenney dismisses idea of abandoning oil
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said it would be impossible for countries such as Canada to abandon fossil fuels
CANADA
WHAT:
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said that abandoning fossil fuels would be impossible.
WHY:
Kenney’s comments came in response to the findings of the UN’s IPCC report on climate change.
WHAT NEXT:
Alberta is keen to position itself as a leader in decarbonisation.
ALBERTA Premier Jason Kenney said this week that abandoning fossil fuels was an impossibility for a country such as Canada that experiences cold winters. His comments came in the wake of the publication of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which painted a bleak picture. The report concluded that some of the impacts of man-made climate change were now irreversible and warned of dire consequences unless dramatic cuts in green- house gas (GHG) emissions can be achieved.
The report attributed the impact of man- made emissions in large part to the combustion of fossil fuels, putting the energy industry in the spotlight as governments and companies alike consider how to respond to the report’s warn- ings. But Kenney cautioned that abandoning fossil fuels would also have negative conse- quences – especially for a country where heating is needed in the winter.
Ending the use of fossil fuels in a cold climate would come at an “incalculable” toll to human life, Kenney told reporters at a news conference in Edmonton on August 9. Canadians would have to park every vehicle, turn off their heat and abandon air travel in order to achieve it, he said.
And this is not a challenge for Canada and other countries with cold winters alone. Kenney went on to argue that the majority of the world was dependent on fossil fuels and there was “no
credible way” to eliminate humans’ dependency on them in the foreseeable future.
“It is a utopian notion that we can suddenly end the use of hydrocarbon based energy,” he said. “The challenge is to shrink carbon and CO2 [carbon dioxide] output, and Alberta is increasingly a world leader in that respect.”
Leading decarbonisation
Indeed, Alberta has been keen to position itself as being at the forefront of decarbonisation efforts. However, the province is also the top GHG emitter in Canada, according to the federal government. Total CO2 emissions from Alber- ta’s oil and gas industry have also risen over the past 30 years, despite the industry becoming less emissions intensive over that period.
There are initiatives underway to address this, including major oil sands producers adopting net zero emissions targets, both on an individ- ual basis and as part of an alliance with each other. Notably, the companies’ decarbonisation plans rely heavily on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which they hope will enable them to keep producing oil and gas even as they cut their emissions.
However, reaching net zero is a costly propo- sition, and oil sands producers are counting on government support to help reach that goal. The CEOs of Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy have both said that Canada would need up to
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is a vocal defender of the oil and gas industry.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 12•August•2021