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441-02580 (Environment)

Paper petition

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the Government of Canada

WHEREAS:

  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned us repeatedly that rising temperatures over the next two decades, if left unabated, will bring "widespread devastation and extreme weather";
  • The summer of 2023 was the hottest three months globally on record, and Canada is experienced the most severe wildfire season on record;
  • In the past decade, over 85% of gases that are warming our planet, greenhouse gases, come from burning fossil fuels;
  • Canada's oil and gas sector is our fastest and largest sector of greenhouse gas emissions; and
  • In 2021, the federal government committed to "cap and cut emissions from the oil and gas sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050."

WE, the undersigned residents of Canada, call on the federal government to move forward immediately with a bold emissions caps for the oil and gas sector that are comprehensive in scope and realistic in achieving an interim and science-based target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Response by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): The Honourable STEVEN GUILBEAULT

The Government of Canada is taking action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the oil and gas sector at a pace and scale necessary to achieve Canada’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets in a way that allows the sector to compete in a global economy that is transitioning to net-zero. Addressing emissions from the oil and gas sector—the largest source of GHG emissions in Canada—is critical to the achievement of Canada’s climate goals and international commitments, and vital to the sustainability and competitiveness of Canada’s energy industry.

In March 2022, the Government of Canada published the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (2030 ERP), which outlines the measures Canada is taking to reach its Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, a 40-45% economy-wide reduction in GHG emissions below 2005 levels by 2030. A key element of the Government’s plan is to cap and cut GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector at a pace and scale necessary to contribute to Canada’s 2030 climate goals and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This Government of Canada commitment was first announced in November 2021 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Capping and cutting oil and gas sector emissions will send a clear, long-term policy signal to invest in clean technology, low-emissions energy assets, and supporting infrastructure while avoiding investments in oil and gas production that do not incorporate best-in-class technologies and infrastructure.

On December 7, 2023, the Government of Canada published a Regulatory Framework for an Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap to outline key design details of the proposed approach to setting a cap on emissions and seek public comment.

The framework proposes a cap-and-trade system (under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act) that sets a regulated limit on emissions from the sector. 

The Government of Canada will continue to engage with provinces and territories, oil and gas companies, Indigenous organizations and other stakeholders to develop an emissions cap that will ensure the oil and gas sector's emissions decline on the trajectory needed to meet the shared goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.

The Government expects to publish draft regulations of the oil and gas emissions cap in 2024.

 

 

Presented to the House of Commons
Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre)
June 19, 2024 (Petition No. 441-02580)
Government response tabled
August 21, 2024
Photo - Mike Morrice
Kitchener Centre
Green Party Caucus
Ontario

27 signatures

Only validated signatures are counted towards the total number of signatures.