VANCOUVER — The first paper released by Energy Future Forum is calling on the federal government to immediately lend support to the development and implementation of Canada’s carbon capture, utilization and storage technology (CCUS).
The Energy Future Forum brings together government, industry and NGOs to brainstorm solutions to energy problems. In its inaugural paper, the group’s signatories investigated how the country could reach its Paris Agreement commitments while positioning its energy sector for a clean energy boom.
Forum officials noted that the paper, entitled Energy Future Forum: Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage. The Time is Now, is the first of many to come and is an example of how industry stakeholders are collaborating on government policy recommendations.
“It is critical that Canada maintain and advance its leadership position in carbon capture,” said Mac Van Wielingen, founder and partner, ARC Financial Corp., in a statement. “It must be understood as part of a broader strategy to sustain our comparative advantage as a leading energy-exporting nation and reliable, responsible resource developer.”
Van Wielingen added the country’s commitment to the ongoing reduction of emissions and the attainment of the highest levels of the environment, social and governance standards and performance, must be evidenced in industry activities.
The forum stated it believes combining cutting-edge environmental innovation with Canada’s comparative advantage as an energy-exporting nation will allow Canada to achieve or exceed climate targets.
The position paper notes if Canada aims to meet its 2030 climate change objective and establish a plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, CCUS, including direct air capture and other developing technologies, will play a key role. The paper’s authors stressed CCUS technology has a proven 90 per cent capture rate of the CO2 produced from the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and industrial processes.
The captured carbon is sequestered underground, either as part of enhanced oil recovery or stored in geological formations. It can also be used to produce valuable products such as carbon fibre and other low or emission-free fuels.
But to unlock these benefits, the forum advised an industry-civil society-government collaboration will be needed to spur innovation and make investments competitive with those available in the United States and elsewhere.
The Energy Future Forum’s recommendations include:
- Support from federal and provincial governments for carbon capture and direct air carbon capture, utilization and storage as integral components of climate change policy framework and a low-carbon export strategy.
- Federal tax policy changes to attract private investment for direct air capture, utilization and storage.
- All levels government collaborating on stackable tax credits and a CCUS fund that will help leverage private sector investment into the three streams of carbon capture.
- Canada Infrastructure Bank standards that reward carbon reduction strategies, including carbon capture and storage, in the allocation of capital.
- Multi-level government collaboration on regulatory framework that minimizes the risk of leaks, monitors movement of the carbon dioxide and addresses outstanding issues such as the ownership of pore space and long-term liability of carbon storage.
- Creation of financing vehicles, such as “green” transition bonds, public-private partnerships and equity investments by the federal and provincial governments, and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, to help attract private investment into the CCUS sector.
To read more, the full paper can be found here.
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