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Common Dreams
8
June 2023
By JESSICA CORBETT
As Canada Burns, Docs Reveal Oil Giant Weighed In on
Government Carbon Plan
"Carbon capture and storage is a scam, and as these
documents show, the call is coming from inside the house," said one
campaigner.
As wildfires continued to cause air pollution problems across eastern
North America on Thursday, The Narwhalrevealed it
obtained documents showing that fossil fuel giant Suncor "provided
input on the first draft" of the Canadian government's forthcoming
Carbon Management Strategy and a company executive sat on an "obscure"
advisory panel.
Highlighting the "important reporting" from The Narwhal's
Carl Meyer, Torrance Coste—national campaign director at the
Wilderness Committee, a Canadian nonprofit—tweeted that
"carbon capture and storage is a scam, and as these documents show,
the call is coming from inside the house."
Meyer, an investigative reporter at the nonprofit Canadian media
outlet, shared details from a February 2022 briefing note prepared for
Natural Resources Canada Deputy Minister John Hannaford—whom Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau has just named as
clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet, a promotion
set to take effect later this month.
The briefing note was developed for a meeting with Jacquie Moore—then
Suncor's vice president of external relations and now its top
lawyer—and lobbyist Daniel Goodwin that "served as Hannaford's
introduction to some Suncor 'key initiatives,' including the company's
membership in the 'Oilsands Pathways to Net Zero alliance,' the former
name of the Pathways Alliance, which was then a fledgling organization
in the oilpatch," Meyer reported.
"The alliance wants to soak up at least $10 billion in public funding
to build a mammoth, unprecedented system that would capture
carbon from oilsands operations in Alberta and pipe it to an
underground reservoir in the province's east," the journalist noted.
While serving as Suncor's vice president of regional development,
Chris Grant was chosen to be on a "thought leaders' senior reference
group" for the government plan—previously known as the Carbon Capture,
Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Strategy—according to the briefing
note. Grant has since retired from the Calgary-based energy company.
Although Grant, Suncor, and the Pathways Alliance did not respond to
requests for comment, Natural Resources Canada spokesperson Michael
MacDonald told The Narwhal that "Suncor's input had no impact
whatsoever on the timelines for the development of the strategy," the
company was "one of nearly 1,500 organizations and individuals" who
weighed in, and "input was solicited from all interested Canadians"
online from July 2021 to November 2022.
MacDonald also said that members of the 13-person advisory board,
including Grant, "were asked to bring their expertise and experiences
to the table as individuals, not as representatives of their
respective organizations."
The board included a University of Alberta professor, a clean energy
consultant, a Shell Canada
manager, the NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize executive director, CEOs of
CarbonCure and Svante, president of Wolf Carbon, and vice presidents
at BMO's Impact Investment Fund, Carbon Engineering, Cement
Association of Canada, International CCS Knowledge Center, and
Scotiabank.
"As the entire country burns, one has to wonder: should fossil fuel
companies be weighing in on our national climate change policy?"
Meyer reported that the panel—convened by Drew Leyburne, Natural
Resources Canada's assistant deputy minister for energy efficiency and
technology—met three times between April and July 2021, then
corresponded over email the following year. One member said they
served as "a sounding board," providing "casual, nonbinding,
nonconsensus advice."
The government spokesperson did not say when the plan will be released
but said that "it was determined that a more holistic view of carbon
management solutions was necessary in this space," given that CCUS
"technology is not, on its own, a silver bullet to combat climate
change," but it is "one component of an overarching strategy" that
will also include nature-based solutions such as tree-planting and
wetland restoration along with other technologies like direct air
capture.
Some global campaigners and experts have long argued that
CCUS is "a
false solution" that has become "a dangerous distraction driven by
the same big polluters who created the climate emergency," as Common
Dreams has reported. Critics have also warned that
industries promote "nature-based solutions" so they can "keep burning
fossil fuels, mine more of the planet, and increase industrial meat
and dairy production."
The reporting on the Canadian government's evolving carbon plan came
as smoke from
Canadian wildfires—intensified by global heating largely driven by
fossil fuels—disrupted travel
and outdoor activities across the U.S. East Coast as officials warned
millions of people to stay indoors due to poor air quality.
Fatima Syed, Meyer's colleague at The Narwhal, tweeted that
"this story is bonkers when you consider wildfires."
Emma McIntosh, another reporter at the outlet, similarly said that
his "scoop feels like a bad joke when you read it under a layer of
wildfire smoke: Suncor, a massive oil company, helped the federal
government write its climate change strategy. Which is now a year
late."
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