Ottawa announces emissions progress as Capital Power cancels $2.4B carbon capture project
Ottawa released its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report on Thursday, less than a day after a major carbon capture and storage project was scrapped by Edmonton-based Capital Power.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said overall, emissions are at their lowest in 25 years, not including the pandemic.
"Overall, this updated report shows significantly lower emissions by 44 million tons than our pre-pandemic levels," Guilbeault said.
"That is the equivalent of removing 13 million vehicles from our roads."
For years, Alberta has championed emerging carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a path to net-zero emissions.
But Capital Power announced Wednesday it is halting its major capture project at the Genesee power plant.
"After a detailed review of the project, we have concluded that the economics for CCS at the Genesee site do not meet our targeted risk-return thresholds," Capital Power CEO Avik Dey told a meeting of analysts on Wednesday.
"As such, we are discontinuing pursuit of the $2.4 billion Genesee CCS project.
"However, we do view CCS technology as being viable."
Had the Genesee project gone ahead, it promised three million tonnes in captured carbon a year, along with $5.4 million in annual property taxes and 50 full-time permanent jobs.
Alberta says it has invested billions into CCS and places the blame on Ottawa for not providing financial security for the project.
"The federal government has failed to support Alberta industry with the necessary financial incentives to make this project economically viable, further leading to the project now being paused and reconsidered," a statement issued on Thursday by Alberta Environment Minster Rebecca Shultz said in part.
"It's a huge disappointment," said Chris Severson-Baker of the Pembina Institute.
"Alberta really deserves most of the blame for killing this project.
"The amount of uncertainty that the province has shown in terms of carbon policy, carbon pricing, the electricity sector ... a lot of the changes that have been implemented recently just created so much uncertainty for companies like Capital Power."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Here's what every key witness said at Donald Trump's hush money trial. Closing arguments are coming
After 22 witnesses, including a porn actor, tabloid publisher and White House insiders, testimony is over at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Norway hands over papers for diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian prime minister
Norway on Sunday handed over diplomatic papers to the Palestinian prime minister in the latest step toward recognizing a Palestinian state, a largely symbolic move that has infuriated Israel.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
J.H. Tabaret statue at uOttawa vandalized
The statue of J.H. Tabaret at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) has been vandalized, as a picture taken by CTV News shows red paint sprayed all over it.