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."