Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson has joined more than 20 countries in promising to end international public funding for fossil fuels.
the joint declaration, announced Thursday morning at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, was a UK-led initiative.
The non-binding declaration supports a clean energy transition by using public resources to “improve” what the private sector can offer, end ongoing fossil fuel financing by the end of 2022, and encourage other governments and their credit bureaus. export to sign similar commitments. .
Incessant fossil fuel projects are those that do not have the technology to capture greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s a significant announcement for Canada because, if honored, climate advocates believe it would let the country drop from its worst position among the G20 when it comes to international support for fossil fuels.
Wilkinson said part of the reason for the last-minute decision is Canada’s recent federal elections and the early announcement of new cabinet portfolios. In the past week.
“It takes a minister to make a decision like this. There is no way the civil service will do it, ”he said.
“The biggest problem we had was, was it feasible by 2022 … We went through a process of discussing that with the Minister of Commerce, and with (Export Development Canada), and with others, and we came to the conclusion that we were able to . “
The amount of funds at stake is a secret
Oil Change International’s public finance campaign director Bronwen Tucker said it is unclear exactly how much Export Development Canada (EDC) spends on international subsidies because Crown Corporation, for stated corporate competitiveness reasons, is unclear on how much it is given to whom. Still, international financing for fossil fuels is estimated to be somewhere between $ 2 billion and $ 9 billion from 2018 to 2020.
Canada may be able to step down from its worst G20 position in international support for fossil fuels after signing a key energy financing plan at COP26. # COP26 # COP26xCNO
EDC exists essentially to give Canadian companies a advantage in the global economy providing financing and connecting companies with markets.
“Basically it can be a Canadian company that does business with a company abroad and is not registered in Canada … or it can be a Canadian company, like Enbridge, that is building pipelines or has operations in another country,” Tucker explained.
Enbridge, for example, received US $ 303 million from EDC in 2018-19 for activities in the United States, while Calgary-based Parex received at least $ 94.5 million in loans for the extraction of oil and gas in Colombia that same fiscal year. In 2019, Australia Pacific LNG Processing Pty Limited received a loan of $ 190 million for the “sale of Canadian goods and services”.
The top recipient countries for Canadian fossil fuel financing from 2018 to 2020 were the United States, Mexico, Australia and Colombia, respectively, although projects in India, Chile, Norway and others have also received money. Enbridge, Parex Resources, ConocoPhillips and Australia Pacific LNG were among the top recipients in the same period.
No Commitment to Stop Financing Oil in Canada, Says May
Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May called on EDC to ditch fossil fuels entirely.
“Canada needs to stop funding fossil fuels abroad, but it really makes it pretty clear why we are not committing to stop funding fossil fuels at home,” he said.
“We can’t keep pretending we have enough time to make incremental changes. We also have to recognize the investments and subsidies that governments, particularly Canada with the worst track record, are making and propping up fossil fuels are holding back a renewable energy revolution, “he added.
The senior manager of the Environmental Defense program for climate and energy, Julia Levin, echoed the concern, saying there are “glaring contradictions” in Canada’s approach to tackling the climate crisis.
“There is a contradiction between promising to eliminate foreign public funding, partly due to the risk of immobilized assets, and continuing to support infrastructure such as TMX’s expansion pipeline in Canada, which will also quickly become a fixed asset if built,” he said . .
May said that in addition to EDC funding, Canadian international aid often ends up reaching Canadian companies as well.
“If you look at our international development flows and funds over the decades, you will often find that there is a Canadian engineering company hired to do the feasibility studies for them,” he said. “So funding that is supposed to go to the poorest of the poor is often subverted to another agenda to make sure it’s helping a Canadian corporation.”
Too much room for maneuver?
The statement signed by Canada read: “We will end new direct public support to the international fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022, except in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5 C warming limit and the objectives of the Paris Agreement. . “
When asked if “except in limited and clearly defined circumstances” it gives too much room to maneuver, May said no if 1.5 C is understood in the context of the Special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that offered a clearer understanding of the scale of climate damage if that threshold is crossed.
“The IPCC made it clear … there is only one pathway that remains at 1.5 C, starting with a 45 percent reduction in CO2 levels compared to 2010 levels by 2030,” he said.
“Can’t repeat (enough), capital letters NO, underlined, and with neon lights, net zero by 2050 does not guarantee 1.5 degrees, unless most of the work is done before 2030.”
Wilkinson said that the UK wrote the statement with 1.5 degrees in the language, but that “we all recognize that keeping (heating) at 1.5 or less is quite important.”
That’s “because the impacts are maybe bigger than we thought they were a few years ago if you allow it to be significantly larger than that.”
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com