Olivia Woods
The province of Alberta is likely to reach the targeted level of methane emission reduction by the year 2025, as recent data suggests that the reduction needs to be only 1% to accomplish this.
Canada produces around 5 million barrels of crude oil per day, most of which comes from the oil sands in Alberta. Despite the province’s efforts to reduce pollution, the oil produced in Alberta is amongst the most environmentally damaging in the world.
The province administration announced in its second annual report that methane emissions from the oil and gas industry had decreased by 44% between 2014 and 2021. The official goal is a 45% reduction in emissions by the year 2025.
“Alberta was the first government in Canada to set a methane emissions reduction target, and we’re 1% away from meeting it,” said Alberta’s minister of the environment, Sonya Savage. “This is the result of strong leadership from the men and women in our industries, and investments in technology and innovation that are making a difference for our oil and gas sector.”
About $30 million (USD) is funding the task of cleaning up the energy sector. Protocols enforcing more efficient operations at the oil and gas field and less flaring – which is the burning of natural gas– have contributed significantly to Alberta’s success.
The province highlighted that methane, which makes up a significant portion of natural gas, has a warming potential 25 times more than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
“In Alberta, the oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions,” it said. “Approximately three-quarters of provincial methane emissions come from the upstream oil and gas sector.”
In November, the Environmental Protection Agency set forth new rules to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas production by 87% from 2005 levels to 2030 levels.
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