Canada’s Emissions Reduction plan has a LOT to do with carbon capture
Last week the Canadian federal government released their 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan with Justin Trudeau making the announcement at the GLOBE conference here in Vancouver. The plan details a reduction in emissions across the whole economy by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero by 2050. As with any major climate policy, the initial reviews are mixed with environmental groups critical of the concessions to the oil and gas sector and major industries knocking the targets as unreasonable. This is of course an overly simplistic generalization … what is definitive is that the plan includes $9.1B in new investments, an escalating price on carbon and sector specific policy action for buildings, vehicles, agriculture and almost everything in between.
Source: IPCC, Global CCS Institute, Golman Sachs Global Investments Research 2020
The plan is highly reliant on engineered climate solutions, particularly carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS). CCUS is slated to cut ~13% of the oil and gas sector’s projected emissions. The plan details additional funding to enable the planned amount of carbon capture, up from the 0.05% that’s realistic today. Last week, we hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ with Stephanie Karris, a PhD in Chemical Engineering with a focus on carbon utilization who’s investing strictly in utilization and storage solutions. It was refreshing and fascinating to hear directly from a leading scientist and investor in the field just how advanced the technology is and that Canada’s target isn’t so far fetched. Point-source capture, where emissions are captured from heavy industrial processes before they are emitted into the atmosphere (which is what our portfolio company Carbon America specializes in) is the most feasible from a cost to potential scale perspective. The reality is that the technology exists, is viable, and with the appropriate investment has the potential to complement genuine emissions reductions — to both right our future course and correct the wrongs of the past.