When it comes to cutting carbon emissions, regular Canadians are doing their part.

Emissions from heating homes, driving cars, flying and even garbage are all down from 2005 levels.

But this progress on the path to net zero is being cancelled out by significant rises in emissions from big business and industry.

Carbon emissions from the oil and gas industry in particular are up — way up — and now produce more atmospheric warming than every car, truck and tractor-trailer on the road nationwide.

In an interview with the Star, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said everyone must do their part to meet national emission reduction targets and it’s time the oil and gas industry starts pulling its weight.

“One might ask, well, why isn’t it happening?” said Guilbeault. “Well, because no one no one forced them to do it before.”

The minister of the environment and climate change listed a number of regulations the Liberal government will be enacting in the coming months — a cap on oil and gas emissions, reductions to methane leaks and stricter emissions regulations on refineries — as evidence that they are going to start tightening the vise on the fossil fuel industry to reduce emissions.

“They are going to start doing their part,” he said. “That’s what I tell Canadians. And the reason it hasn’t happened yet is because we haven’t asked them to do it. We haven’t forced them to do it, and we’re going to force them to do it.”

Oil and gas profits reached historic highs in 2022, as global markets reacted to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and oil prices soared. But instead of investing that windfall in emissions reductions, the big six Albertan oilsands producers used most of it out to buy back their own shares, hike dividends to shareholders and pay executive bonuses.

Under the banner of the Pathways Alliance, the big oilsands companies have been taking out full-page ads in newspapers across the country touting their plan to reach net zero by 2050. Their $16.5 billion project envisions capturing emissions at their plants and processing facilities and transporting them 400 kilometres through pipelines to be permanently sequestered underground.

Alliance president Kendall Dilling says the companies have spent $500 million on phase 1. But the bulk of the project has not yet been financed and the alliance has asked for public funding to cover two-thirds of its cost.

Catherine McKenna, the former Canadian environment minister and current chair of the UN expert group on net-zero commitments, denounced the Pathways Alliance ad campaign as greenwashing because it claims “they are on their way to net-zero despite all evidence to the contrary.”

The Pathways Alliance did not respond to a request for comment before deadline.

According to the 2021 early estimate of national emissions put out by the Canadian Climate Institute last week, oil and gas emissions are up 67 per cent since 2005, and now produce more than 105 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year. That’s more than 15 per cent of all emissions produced in Canada.

When you factor in fugitive methane leaks, it adds another 52 million tonnes of carbon to the total. With these leaks, the oil and gas industry alone was responsible for more than half of the rise in national emissions between 2020 and 2021.

New research, however, calls into question the accuracy of the reported methane numbers, saying real fugitive emissions in Saskatchewan and Alberta oil facilities are 3.9 times greater than the number reported to government. If substantiated, this would push oil and gas emissions above 300 million tonnes, or more than a third of all emissions in the country.

These growing emissions put an onus on the industry to act, said Guilbeault.

“They’re responsible for most of the growth in emissions we’ve seen in Canada. So they have the responsibility and clearly the means” to lower their emissions,” he said. “Clearly they need to do more.”

Meanwhile, emissions reductions are already occurring across vast swaths of the Canadian economy.

Emissions from electricity generation are down by 51 per cent since 2005, thanks in large part to Ontario’s complete phase-out of coal-fired plants under former premier Dalton McGuinty. Cement production has cut emissions by 31 per cent, steel by 21 per cent and aluminum by 41 per cent.

When it comes to the emissions that regular people control, progress is also evident. Residential heating is down 13 per cent. Garbage emissions are lower (56 per cent from incineration and three per cent from landfill). Emissions from domestic flights have fallen 32 per cent.

Emissions from cars are down 34 per cent, though emissions from SUVs, minivans and pickups are up 29 per cent, cancelling out most of the progress from cars.

These trendlines aren’t yet falling fast enough to meet Canada’s climate targets, but they are bending in the right direction. As electric vehicle sales increase and old furnaces are replaced with heat pumps, these emission reductions are likely to accelerate.

Which leaves the oilpatch to catch up with the rest of Canada — something Guilbeault said his government is committed to enforcing.

“We’re not backing down. We’re not changing our stance. This is what we’ve committed to Canadians to doing. And this is what this is what we will do.”

SHARE: