Ottawa | Unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – Thousands of people from across Canada are urging Finance Minister Freeland and Natural Resources Minister Wilkinson to scrap a proposed carbon capture, utilization and storage tax credit.
CCUS is touted by the oil and gas lobby as a way of cutting emissions, by capturing carbon before it escapes into the air.
It’s a dangerous distraction driven by the same polluters who created the climate emergency,” says Julia Levin, Senior Climate and Energy Program Manager with Environmental Defence.
Despite raking in bigger profits than ever given the high price of oil and gas, oil and gas companies want governments in Canada to pay for CCUS for their sector.
Betting on CCUS only prolongs reliance on fossil fuels at the very time when avoiding catastrophic climate change requires winding down the production and use of fossil fuels.
“Magical thinking isn’t going to solve the climate crisis,” says Dylan Penner, Climate and Social Justice Campaigner with the Council of Canadians.
The signatories point out that if the tax credit is implemented and made available for oil and gas projects, including fossil gas power generation and fossil-derived blue hydrogen, the tax credit would be a significant new fossil fuel subsidy.
“Deploying CCUS at any climate-relevant scale, carried out within the short timeframe we have to avert climate catastrophe without posing substantial risks to communities on the frontlines of the buildout, is a pipe dream,” the letter reads.
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Stand.earth is an international nonprofit environmental organization working to create a world where respect for people and the environment comes first.