By Maria Cheng
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada could scrap a cap on oil and gas emissions if other measures like effective carbon markets, stronger regulations, carbon capture and storage technologies proved successful, the government said in a budget plan unveiled on Tuesday.
The climate plan, disclosed as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget, said under those conditions, the cap “would no longer be required as it would have marginal value.”
Reuters reported last month that Canada was in talks with energy companies and the oil-producing province of Alberta about eliminating the emissions cap from the country’s oil and gas sector if the industry and province reduce their carbon footprint in other ways.
Canada’s emissions cap was not enforced through legislation and not scheduled to take effect until 2030, but has been condemned by Canadian oil and gas companies that say it would result in lower production.
Carney, who has been focused on trying to steer Canada’s economy through trade wars with the U.S. and China, has been criticized by some members of his own party for backing away from the Liberals’ focus on the environment.
Carney’s budget also included steps to speed up investments in clean energy by offering further tax credits, updating clean fuel regulations and plans to modernize Canada’s electrical grids, which officials said would require investments “nearly triple from current levels to meet anticipated future demand.”
It said the government would propose amendments to greenwashing legislation that had created investment uncertainty. Passed during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government last year, the legislation had been criticized by oil companies.
Ahead of the budget’s release, Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist at Greenpeace, said Carney should be doing more for the environment given his previous experience as a UN special envoy on climate.
“When you’re the prime minister, you can make the rules and say – ‘You’re not allowed to do these things, like keep developing fossil fuels,” he said. “There are things that governments can do that bankers can’t – and I don’t think he’s entirely made that shift.”
The budget called the transition to low-carbon energy and clean technology “an economic necessity” and a “moral obligation.”
(Reporting by Maria Cheng; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Deepa Babington)
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