The same day, Guilbeault approved Equinor’s huge Bay du Nord offshore drilling project in the north Atlantic Ocean, expected to produce crude with an emissions intensity of eight kilograms of carbon per a barrel. Suncor’s existing Base Mine emits 42 kilograms a barrel of carbon.
The contrast underlines how Canada, the world’s fourth-largest crude producer, is distinguishing between higher and lower-carbon fossil fuel production as it aims to slash emissions over the next three decades.
Canada will also require new oil and gas projects to show their emissions are “best in class”, without defining what exactly that class would be, and able to hit net-zero by 2050.
“It’s a big challenge for an oil sands project, and I’m not convinced they’ll even be able to do it,” said Chris Severson-Baker, Alberta regional director at the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank.
Guilbeault’s letter, published on the Impact…
