Canada Releases Faster and Further: Canada’s Methane Strategy

Cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to combat climate change. Today, the Government of Canada is taking a major next step in tackling these emissions with the release of Faster and Further: Canada’s Methane Strategy.

The Strategy, announced today by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, provides a pathway to further reduce methane emissions from across the economy while supporting Canadian technology and creating good-paying jobs. It builds on Canada’s existing progress and commitments, including the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.

From being the first country to establish national oil and gas methane reduction regulations to investing in our world-class science and clean tech sector, and helping other countries reduce their methane emissions, the Strategy announced today will position Canada to continue leading in reducing methane emissions domestically and driving ambitious reductions internationally.

With the measures outlined in the Strategy, Canada will reduce domestic methane emissions by more than 35 percent by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. This will exceed the Global Methane Pledge target of 30 percent that Canada signed on to last year.

The Methane Strategy outlines how Canada will:

• implement measures across sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, to reduce the largest sources of methane emissions;
• strengthen the clean technology sector and provide tools to industry to achieve cost-effective methane emission reductions while creating good-paying jobs;
• advance scientific knowledge and technical capacity to improve methane detection, measurement, and reporting;
• meet international climate targets under the Paris Agreement and Global Methane Pledge; and
• solidify its global leadership and provide funding, tools, and best practices for other countries to achieve emissions reductions.

Lowering methane emissions can also have positive impacts on air quality and public health. In particular, methane contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone that causes serious health problems such as reduced lung function and asthma attacks, and is responsible for half a million premature deaths globally.

The Government of Canada will continue to work closely with and support ongoing complementary action by provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous groups, industry sectors, and others to reduce methane emissions across the country. As Canada and countries around the world take action to reduce methane emissions, Canadian companies can remain competitive players in the $3.6 trillion clean technology market and drive jobs in key sectors.

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada