{"id":44223,"date":"2021-06-10T15:28:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T14:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=44223"},"modified":"2021-06-10T15:44:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T14:44:17","slug":"tar-sands-companies-aim-net-zero-2050-no-plan-extract-less-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2021\/06\/10\/tar-sands-companies-aim-net-zero-2050-no-plan-extract-less-oil\/","title":{"rendered":"Tar sands companies aim for ‘net zero’ by 2050 – with no plan to extract less oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian tar sands producers have committed to achieve net zero emissions in their operations by 2050 to \u201chelp Canada meet its climate goal\u201d while continuing to extract and produce oil for the next 30 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five major oil companies, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor Energy, which extract some of the world\u2019s most carbon-intensive oil, announced<\/a> they had formed the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero alliance on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The companies, which together operate about 90% of Canada\u2019s tar sands, said they will work with the Canadian government and the provincial government of Alberta to roll out technologies that will enable them to cut emissions from their extraction and production process.<\/p>\n

Prime minister Justin Trudeau has committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In 2018, the oil and gas sector was the largest source of Canada’s emissions, accounting for 26% of its total, according to government data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tar sands companies said the alliance aims to \u201cdevelop an actionable approach\u201d to cut emissions while \u201cpreserving the more than $3 trillion in oil sands contribution\u201d to Canada\u2019s economy to 2050.<\/p>\n

But they made no mention of phasing out production. The “net zero” strategy does not extend to emissions from consumers burning the oil, which are many times larger than those from the extraction process.<\/p>\n

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In fact, planned oil production in Canada would lead to a 17% expansion between 2019 and 2030, according to recent analysis by Stockholm Environment Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This goes against modelling by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which found that new investments in expanding oil and gas production must stop by the end of the year<\/a> for the sector to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of greenwash is worse than meaningless – it’s dangerous,\u201d Alex Doukas, senior consultant at the Denmark-based KR Foundation, said of the alliance. \u201cIt fails to cover emissions associated with the tar sands products themselves. Nobody should cheer this nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurie van der Burg, campaigner at Oil Change International, told Climate Home News: “These plans lack the one and only action that is most vital to cutting emissions: cutting dirty oil and gas production.<\/p>\n

“If the Canadian tar sands net-zero alliance cared about climate action it would have committed to cut production by 2030.”<\/p>\n

Van der Burg added that tar sands producers risked facing litigation over the plans, citing a court ruling against oil giant Shell<\/a>, which established that real emissions reductions were necessary for oil and gas companies to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n

According to the UN Environment Programme<\/a>, global oil production must fall by 4% every year between now and 2030 to maintain a chance of staying below 1.5C of warming.<\/p>\n

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Because it is thick and viscous, oil from tar sands takes a lot of energy to extract and refine, making its production three to four times more greenhouse gas intensive<\/a> than conventional crude oil.<\/p>\n

To meet the goal, the alliance plans to create a corridor to link oil sands facilities from Fort McMurray to the Cold Lake regions and channel CO2 to a carbon sequestration hub.<\/p>\n

Energy efficiency measures, electrification of operations, producing hydrogen and carbon capture and storage technology would be deployed requiring \u201csignificant investment\u201d from both the industry and government, the companies said.<\/p>\n

The alliance said \u201cinternationally recognised forecasts\u201d indicate fossil fuel will continue to be part of the energy mix to 2050 to justify the initiative – contrary to the latest IEA net zero report.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery credible energy forecast indicates that oil will be a major contributor to the energy mix in the decades ahead and even beyond 2050,\u201d said Sonya Savage, Alberta\u2019s minister of energy, claiming this would lead to the production of \u201cnet zero barrels of oil\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Net-zero latest<\/p>\n

“Canadian oil sands producers said on Wednesday they would form an alliance to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from their operations by 2050”https:\/\/t.co\/WjuVD53quZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/bTyUKwHk4m<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) June 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n