
Federal Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Canada: COVID-19 edition
-
In total, the Canadian government provided at least CAD 1.91 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in 2020, a jump of over 200% from 2019 levels.
-
While there are clear social and environmental elements of some of the subsidies provided since the onset of the pandemic, this cannot be said of all measures introduced.
-
Canada recently unveiled a strengthened climate plan to support its target of net-zero emissions by 2050. These new efforts must be accompanied by fossil fuel subsidy reform.
Federal fossil fuel subsidies in Canada reached at least CAD 1.9 billion in 2020 in part due to responses to COVID-19. This is a threefold increase compared to 2019.
The following are recommendations to government to phase out fossil fuel subsidies as Canada recovers from the impacts of COVID-19:
- Commit to not introducing new subsidies for fossil fuels unless no other viable alternatives exist.
- Transparently release information on quantified amounts of all federal fossil fuel subsidies and support.
- Provide a public update on the G20 peer review of fossil fuel subsidies with Argentina and complete the review within the first half of 2021.
- Develop and publish a roadmap to achieve Canada’s commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.
- Ensure that Export Development Canada’s policies align with Canada’s climate change and subsidy phase-out commitments.
- Include fossil fuel subsidy reform as a key element of focus in Canada’s next Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement.
- Work with the provinces and territories to address fossil fuel subsidies at the subnational level.
Funded by
You might also be interested in
Canada, a giant oil producer, urges others to end fossil fuel subsidies
Canada is pushing the United States and other major economies to follow through on pledges to phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies, which have soared despite the growing threat of climate change. Such subsidies hit records last year, according to several watchdog groups, including one that estimated that major world economies—members of the G-20 cooperation forum—surpassed $1 trillion in subsidies for the first time in 2022. That’s a fourfold increase over subsidy levels in 2010, the year after G-20 nations agreed to phase out support for fossil fuels.
New Report Finds Carbon Capture And Storage Far Too Expensive
A new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development found carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to be very expensive in Canada. According to the report, which focuses on carbon capture in the context of Canada's oil and gas industry, the climate solution’s persistently high costs are rooted in the "high design complexity and the need for customization."
CCS Can't Compete with Renewables, Won't Deliver by 2030, Report Finds
Carbon capture and storage may have an important role to play in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like iron and steel, but won't pay off for oil and gas companies without continuing government subsidies, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) concludes in an analysis released this week.
Carbon capture projects are too costly, have ‘questionable’ benefits, report finds
Technology the oil industry is counting on to reduce emissions–carbon capture and storage–is too expensive and difficult to deploy quickly enough to help Canada meet its climate commitments, a global environmental think tank says. Relying on carbon capture and storage to cut greenhouse gases from oil and gas production will mean large public subsidies for projects that are unable to compete on costs against expanding renewable energy sources, rendering the benefits "questionable," the International Institute for Sustainable Development said in a report released Thursday.