Yesterday, McLennan Ross issued an analysis of Alberta's new climate change plan, focusing on the report of the climate change panel. In our haste to issue the analysis in a timely fashion, we neglected to discuss one of the signature pieces of the plan, namely the cap on oil sands emissions. The province will adopt a cap on emissions of CO2 from the oil sands of 100 Mt. Currently, CO2 emissions from the oil sands are about 70 Mt and it is estimated that they would rise to 100 Mt by 2030 if no actions were taken. The cap on emissions, as opposed to production, is intended to given the industry the next 15 years to develop and utilize technology to lower emissions intensity, thereby never hitting the cap even with growth in production.
We also stated that the Panel recommended reducing methane emissions by 40%. In fact, the province adopted an even more ambitious target of 45%.
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