Tag Archives: Cenovus Energy

Energy

Pembina Institute: Why Canada Needs An Emissions Cap for the Oil and Gas Sector

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the oil and gas sector is a major contributor to Canada’s economy, employing 182,000 people and generating $209 billion in GDP during 2023, yet it is also the source of 31% of Canada’’s Greenhouse gas emissions.

 “Demand for oil and gas is not going to go to zero tomorrow.  It is a transition that takes decades  to undergo.  There will be a role for oil and gas as we move forward along that transition, but it is likely to be a  cleaner oil and gas sector as the rest of the world stops buying  the oil and gas products that Canada and other countries produce. Which, I think, really underlines the importance of investing in decarbonization now while we’re still using oil and gas  to 2050 and a little bit beyond  if we get on a net zero trajectory,” explained Janetta McKenzie  from the Pembina Institute, a Canadian think tank and non-profit focused on energy. 

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Energy, Politics

A Peek Into Big Oil’s Playbook with Environmental Defence

Environmental Defence just released a report showing that last year oil and gas company lobbyists were targeting the Conservative Party, in preference to the Canadian Government, by more than a 2 to 1 ratio. Cortes Currents interviewed Emilia Belliveau, lead author of ‘Big Oil’s Playbook, A Summary of Big Oil’s 2024 Federal Lobbying’ and asked Max Thaysen, from the Cortes Island Climate Action Network for his insights.  

Emilia Belliveau:  “Environmental Defence is a charity, so we are nonpartisan. What I can do is simply relay the facts, which are that the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party did not take any lobbyist meetings. The NDP took a very small number, four. Then you have most of the lobby meetings targeting the Federal Liberals and the Federal Conservatives. The Federal Liberals had 62 meetings with ministers and 29 meetings with backbencher MPs, and Conservative MPs took 216  lobby meetings.”

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Energy

Passing the buck at TMX pipeline hearings

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Now that TMX is complete, the question of who should bear the brunt of the project’s cost overruns is making the rounds on Parliament Hill.

A federal committee delved into this issue on Wednesday night, with some witnesses and MPs insisting the oil and gas sector should shoulder the burden because they are the ones profiting, while others argued the pipeline benefits all Canadians.

Oil industry executives called to testify at the Oct. 9 committee meeting on Trans Mountain’s massively over-budget pipeline expansion were met with a combative NDP leader.

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Environment

Canada’s competition watchdog opens inquiry into Pathways Alliance ads over greenwashing allegations

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Competition Bureau is officially investigating an ad campaign that Greenpeace Canada argues is “false and misleading” because it suggests Canada’s six biggest oilsands companies are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping Canada achieve its climate targets.

The Pathways Alliance’s six members — Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil subsidiary Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor — are responsible for 95 per cent of Canada’s oil sands production. A complaint filed in March by Greenpeace Canada took aim at the group’s “Let’s clear the air” marketing campaign, which presents its members as “making clear strides toward net zero” to help Canada “achieve a sustainable future.”

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Energy

Canada’s largest oil and gas companies’ sky-high net earnings renew calls for windfall tax

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sky-high net earnings for Canada’s four biggest oil companies have renewed calls for a windfall tax that Ottawa shows no sign of adopting.

“The gas lobby is clearly very powerful and holds a lot of sway in Canada,” Environmental Defence’s programs director Keith Brooks told Canada’s National Observer, adding the industry is impeding effective climate action and creating deep inequality among Canadians.

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