Pathways Alliance: 2030 Emissions Goals Are More Likely To Be Met in 2035

The leader of the oilsands decarbonization consortium has stated that the industry will not be able to meet the federal government’s emissions reduction targets for 2030 until at least 2035.

“It’s gonna take another five or 10 years to get there to those levels based on the current plan,” said the president of the Pathways Alliance, Kendall Dilling.

“By the mid-2030s we could probably get to that level of ambition.”

The Pathways Alliance includes 95% of the oilsands industry and is aiming to achieve decarbonization in its production by 2050.

The oil and gas industry must reduce its emissions by 42% from 2019 levels in order to meet these targets by 2030. Near the end of 2023, we should also see the introduction of an emissions cap.

Approximately 11 percent of Canada’s overall pollution output comes from the oilsands, which the Alberta government estimates to be around 70 million tonnes per year.

The Pathways committed to cutting oilsands emissions by 22 megatonnes by the year 2030.

“2023 is the year where we will collectively determine if 2030 is actually achievable,” said Dilling.

“We have probably the first half of 2023 to really land on the fiscal and regulatory framework that is needed for these projects to go forward so that we can keep them on that 2030 timeline. If we slide much beyond that, 2030 will be very challenging.” 

Others argue that decarbonizing the industry doesn’t actually get us further away from fossil fuels and are worried about potential CO2 leaks.

“You can’t say we’re on a path to net-zero by 2050 and we’re going to do it all in the 2040s. No one will give you that runway. So we’re going to deliver a really impressive reduction by 2030. And then with that goodwill in the bank, there’ll be lots of ways to talk about continuing the incentives beyond that point.”

Original source material for this article taken from here