CALGARY — The question of who should bear the financial risk for pricey carbon capture and storage projects has become a stumbling block slowing the technology's adoption in Canada.
So what's the holdup? It comes down in part to tension between government and industry over the perceived financial risk of CCUS investments, and differing opinions about how much of that risk should be borne by taxpayers. But companies have said in order for carbon capture projects to make financial sense, they need some kind of assurance that a future government won't come in and eliminate the industrial carbon price, or that the bottom won't fall out of the carbon credit market 10 years down the road and remove the expected return on investment.
"What the Canada Growth Fund has been trying to do is bespoke negotiations with various emitters, prioritizing projects that they think are particularly good value for taxpayers," Bernstein said. In a February report, global consultancy Wood Mackenzie warned there is a real chance of the Pathways project being "delayed and potentially scuppered" if industry and the federal and provincial governments cannot come together to underwrite the risk that exists.
In an emailed statement, Carolyn Svonkin — press secretary to federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson — said the government is already investing more than $90 billion to help Canadian companies decarbonize, so it's time for industry to step up and help carry the load.