Timothy Egan, President and CEO, of the Canadian Gas Association, had an opportunity to speak with Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, Minister Rebecca Schulz, to discuss the value and impact of the natural gas industry in Alberta, in Canada and the world.
Timothy Egan: As Environment Minister, can you give us a sense of how natural gas plays for your environmental agenda in Alberta?
Minister Schulz: I think where we may differ, especially from other governments, like our federal government, is that we’re really focused on practical ways to reduce global emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.
And when we’re talking about neutrality, I think we also define it differently than some other governments, especially our federal government. This agenda isn’t about reaching absolute zero, it’s about how we help to meet those energy demands that are expected to rise by up to 30% between now and 2040.
We know that fossil fuel production will continue for decades, even with renewables and all the investments we’ve been seeing in that industry in Alberta. This is really about looking at how Albertan natural gas and natural gas from elsewhere in Canada could be part of that overall solution for global emissions. I think that’s where our approach is unique. It’s focused on innovation. It’s not focused on ideology.
We’re investing in many programs that reduce emissions and still manage to keep our energy sector growing and thriving, and frankly we’ve been doing a great job on that front.
We’ve been providing leadership. I often talk about methane emissions reduction, where we’ve reduced emissions by 45% since 2014.
We’ve got 11 and a half million tons of CO2 stored safely and permanently underground through carbon sequestration.
Natural gas has largely replaced coal as the primary source of electricity in the province.
We here in Alberta expect to be off coal years ahead of schedule. Of course there were costs to that, but natural gas has really replaced coal on that front, and we’re going to continue to look at how we can reduce methane emissions further.
We’ve launched our Alberta Security Infrastructure Program (ASIP) to support CCUS, and we’re looking at ways we can reduce emissions sector by sector and, of course, natural gas is part of that – especially when we look at reducing global emissions and doing it quickly by reducing coal use globally. Coal is responsible for over 40% of all energy sector CO2 emissions and global coal use last year reached historically high levels.
We often talk about India and China opening new coal-powered plants and burning more coal than ever before. Of course, natural gas produces far less emissions than burning coal, and Canada produces the world’s cleanest LNG. That’s really where we see our opportunity because emissions don’t have boundaries, they don’t stop at the border. This is a global issue.
It’s why we’ve looked at Article 6 under the Paris Agreement and asked the Government of Canada to assist us to find a way to ensure that the Canadian natural gas sector can provide that energy. I think that’s a significant opportunity, not just for Alberta, but also for Canada.
All the companies that belong here and are operating here in Alberta, and all those workers in these industries, we know that we could help. We believe we could help reduce net global emissions by as much as 221 million tons.
I think that’s a huge opportunity and could be a major win for us here, both on the economic and the environmental side.
Timothy Egan: So, you noted how this is not only an Alberta opportunity, but it’s a national opportunity. How do your colleagues, Environment Ministers across the country react to this? What role do you think they see natural gas playing in their jurisdictions and nationally?
Minister Schulz: I think most of my colleagues are practical. I think they see, obviously, that we need to reduce emissions and we need to keep the lights on.
We need to be able to reduce emissions and keep life affordable. The availability of affordable, reliable, safe and secure energy continues to be a big topic of conversation amongst Canadians across the country.
I think that my counterparts are seeing that. When we look at Alberta specifically, we need to make sure we have enough natural gas supply and generation to power homes and businesses.
The changes being proposed by the federal government under the Clean Electricity Regulations obviously put us at risk. We saw that in January, where our electricity grid was at significant risk in an extreme cold spell. Renewable electricity – which we have in abundance in Alberta – wasn’t able to meet the demand. Dispatchable natural gas was essential: it kept us from freezing. The clean electricity regulations are all about getting rid of natural gas for power generation.
And we’re not alone in our need for natural gas. Other provinces also rely significantly on it, and other energy sources threatened by the Clean Electricity Regulations, as are other people we have heard from across the country. We have a cold climate right across our country, and I think increasingly we’re seeing other provincial governments and their citizens right across our country say, let’s put ideology aside. Let’s be practical.
We see it in the carbon tax where seven premiers and 70% of Canadians now oppose it.
We will, I believe, see that in respect to natural gas where the federal government has seen strong opposition to their electricity regulations because of how they target natural gas. We would ask Canadians to continue to make sure that their voices are heard, for industry to make sure their voices are heard so that we can push the federal government to work with us on realistic solutions.
It all comes down to keeping energy reliable, affordable, safe and secure, which matters more and more every day to people across our country.
Timothy Egan: What are your priorities on the international stage?
Minister Schulz: We’ve made it clear, both me and our Premier Danielle Smith, how important it is to defend and champion our energy industry. And it’s not just to communicate, it’s to champion and advocate for the tremendous innovation that is happening right here in Alberta, especially when it comes to emissions reduction.
Oftentimes, when we travel around the world, we have a lot of people say, you know what, we didn’t know that you were doing that in Alberta. And I think that’s exactly why we must be at COP 29 to show the world that Alberta will continue to be a leader in emissions reduction and be a powerhouse when it comes to innovation and energy leadership that can help reduce global emissions and drive some of these technological advancements we want to see around the world.
And I have heard several provinces saying that there is so much more opportunity if we can work together: not just in one region of the province, but right across the country from Alberta to Saskatchewan, all the way to BC and Newfoundland.
Timothy Egan: Well, Minister, that kind of leadership is a positive sign for us and very motivating for our industry. What words of advice do you have as we continue our work in developing and transporting and distributing natural gas to Canadians?
Minister Schulz: I would just say to keep advocating and keep innovating. I believe that our energy industry is better than anyone when it comes to innovation.
When we look at our upstream oil and gas producers, they’re among the nation’s leaders when it comes to clean tech investment. In Canada, total production from the conventional sector has grown by 21%, while carbon dioxide equivalent emissions have gone down by 24% over the last 10 years. Natural gas production grew by 35%. We’ve lowered CO2 equivalent emissions by 22%.
These are wins, and we need to celebrate them. We know our industry is not only reducing emissions but also maximizing water efficiency and reducing its footprint when it comes to land.
I would just say continue to innovate, integrate emissions reduction into your planning and operations, and continue to invest in research and development, whether that be CCUS, methane emissions strategies or whatever else.
On that last point about methane emission reductions, it is almost as if it isn’t a big deal because we have been doing it for so long – the technology that gets us to near zero or almost zero methane emissions on a site has often been in place on that site for 10-12 years. Here, with the Alberta government, we will continue to tell that story because the world absolutely needs responsibly produced oil and natural gas, and the world wants to see emissions reduction. So, we need to continue to show that we can and will do both.
Timothy Egan: A last question: Can you comment at all on the hydrogen opportunity and how that might play into your view of Alberta’s leadership and Canada’s leadership on environment and energy?
Minister Schulz: Absolutely. The premier has talked a lot about hydrogen, and I think it brings attention to the fact that natural gas is also a feedstock for other products.
I think of this as well when we talk about things like plastics that are so dependent on hydrocarbon feedstocks – it is the same point for, hydrogen, ammonia and, petrochemicals. On hydrogen, we are looking to integrate clean hydrogen at scale, whether that be for transportation, heat, power generation and renewable energy storage, industrial use and export markets.
Of course, there have been lots of conversations with countries around the world about what that’s going to look like and what the worldwide market is estimated to be worth when it comes to hydrogen; we are talking about our natural gas reserves and renewable energy sources, our pipeline network, our infrastructure, and how they all play a role in Canada and in supporting the world’s hydrogen needs.
Our industry here in Alberta is growing pretty quickly. A 1.3 billion net zero hydrogen energy complex is being built just outside of Edmonton to produce clean hydrogen from natural gas.
Dow Chemicals made a pretty big announcement as well: investing 8.8 billion to build a net zero petrochemical complex in Fort Saskatchewan.
I think, of course, when we look at that project, why one of the top chemical producers in the world, a company that can put its capital anywhere, chose Alberta. I think part of it is our government’s efforts to reduce red tape and to bring additional investment here. But of course, it also comes from having access to natural gas in our natural geology.
So, whether we’re talking about hydrogen, or petrochemicals and plastics, we have a huge amount of opportunity and that’s driven by the availability of natural gas, which just reinforces the importance of this sector.
Timothy Egan: Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. Again, we’ve been delighted by how you, the Premier, and your colleagues around the cabinet table have seized on the natural gas file as an opportunity for the world and for Canada. We stand ready and able to continue to work with you as much as possible.