OTTAWA—They’re big, profitable corporations whose products — while essential to modern life — created the climate crisis.It’s a long-standing feature of Canadian policy that is about to change, as the federal government prepares to finally make good on its promise to eliminate at least some of the fossil fuel subsidies it gives to oil and gas companies in this country.
It’s also being met with skepticism, since Canada is still promising billions of dollars in tax credits to help the oil and gas sector reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, which many climate advocates consider unnecessary and expensive new subsidies. The government also bought and financed construction of the Trans Mountain expansion project, a major oil pipeline to the west coast that is nowHere’s everything you need to know about the coming framework to cut federal fossil fuel subsidies.
“This isn’t a problem we don’t understand. We have to phase out the production and use of oil and gas,” said Julia Levin, a climate policy expert with the advocacy group, Environmental Defence. “If we give them money to make it cheaper to reduce their pollution, they’ve got more money to do other things, like explore more or charge less for their product and sell more of it,” Harrison said.Estimates vary, depending on the definition of a subsidy.
Released last December, those guidelines spelled out how Canada would stop funding “new,” “direct” and “unabated” fossil fuel projects in other countries.