A flare stack lights the sky from the Imperial Oil refinery in Edmonton Alta, on Friday December 28, 2018. Canada has announced that it will end new direct subsidies for fossil fuel investments and projects abroad, including those owned by Canadian companies.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
OTTAWA – Canada has announced that it will end new direct subsidies for fossil fuel investments and projects abroad, including those owned by Canadian companies.
The policy released Thursday afternoon applies to the extraction, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil, natural gas or thermal coal, as well as power generation projects that do not use technologies such as carbon capture to significantly reduce emissions.
There is a narrow carveout for natural gas power generation under a set of criteria, including that there is no viable renewable alternative to the project and that it is replacing a higher-emitting fuel source.
The policy applies to federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations and does not cover domestic projects or subsidies to domestic companies.
Ottawa is making the move weeks shy of a deadline it committed to, along with 38 other countries, in November 2021 at an international climate summit in Glasgow.
Natural Resources Canada says the government intends to eliminate inefficient domestic fossil fuel subsidies and additional “significant” subsidies domestically by next year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
