Canada to stop directly financing fossil fuel projects abroad, with narrow exceptions
With weeks until an end-of-year deadline it agreed to last year, Canada has announced that it will end new direct subsidies for fossil fuel investments and projects abroad — including those owned by Canadian companies.
The policy released Thursday afternoon applies to the extraction, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil, natural gas or thermal coal, as well as power generation projects that do not use technologies such as carbon capture to significantly reduce emissions.
The rules, which take effect Jan. 1, will apply to direct funding from federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations.
Advocates had feared that Canada would opt for a narrower definition of "international" that would nonetheless allow support for Canadian companies abroad, which climate-change organization Environmental Defence estimates makes up about 78 per cent of Canada's international support for such projects.
But the policy defines "international" as "operations outside of Canada's jurisdiction in the fossil fuel energy sector regardless of owner domicile." This means that the federal government is barring itself from funding even fossil fuel projects wholly owned by Canadian companies.
"It's a very strong policy," said Julia Levin, Environmental Defence's national climate program manager. "It's very encouraging that the government has obviously listened to the experts and come up with a broad definition."
Ottawa is making the move weeks shy of a deadline it committed to, along with 38 other countries, in November 2021 at an international climate summit in Glasgow.
Out of high-income signatories, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Sweden and European Investment Bank have already delivered policies hailed by international advocacy groups as meeting the high bar of the Glasgow statement. While the United States government has introduced policies to address the statement, it has released few details about how those policies are being implemented.
Levin said that Canada is showing leadership. "We're joining the group of first movers who are aligning international public spending with the climate commitments," she said.
Advocacy groups praised the policy, with organizations including the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Center for International Environmental Law, Climate Action Network, Amnesty International Canada and others calling it an important step forward.
"Oil and gas is usually the elephant in the room in Canadian climate policy," Claire O'Manique, a public finance analyst at Oil Change International, said in a statement. "Today's guidance is a notable break from this norm."
The policy is not without loopholes. An international project could be supported for reasons of national security or humanitarian and emergency response, and a government could decide to take a broad definition of either.
But even under such circumstances, the project would need to abide by criteria including compliance with the goals of the Paris Agreement and proof that it will not "delay or diminish the transition to renewables." It would also have to be coherent with the goal to keep global temperature levels no higher than 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
A narrow carveout for natural gas power generation includes the additional criteria that there be no viable renewable alternative to the project and that it is replacing a higher-emitting fuel source.
The government defines the criteria around these exceptions as "strict," and Levin agreed that they are robust. "If these conditions are implemented with rigour and integrity, it really rules out any future fossil financing for natural gas," she said.
Thursday's announcement does not cover domestic projects and, Natural Resources Canada said in a statement, does not "pre-determine the government of Canada's future domestic framework on fossil-fuel subsidies."
The department says Ottawa intends to eliminate "inefficient" domestic fossil fuel subsidies and additional "significant" subsidies domestically by next year, but details are few and far between.
"I was hoping with the release of this policy, they would outline the next steps. I was disappointed that that wasn’t there," Levin said. "Projects in Canada are just as destructive as projects abroad. But this policy sets us up well for a strong domestic financing policy and I look forward to seeing the next steps in the immediate future."
Reacting to the policy Thursday evening, the federal NDP noted that the elimination of international public financing for fossil fuel projects was part of its confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals, in which the party agreed to support the minority government in key votes until 2025.
"This wouldn't have happened if the NDP weren't at the table pushing for a better climate plan for Canadians. But the Liberals are still giving Canadians’ money to the ultra-rich CEOs who run massive, profitable oil and gas companies in Canada," environment critic Laurel Collins said in a statement.
Collins said the policy is "too little, too late" and is calling on Ottawa to end all fossil fuel subsidies, period, including at home.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
An explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran kills at least 33 workers
An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran killed at least 33 workers and injured 17 others, officials said Sunday, marking one of the worst mining disasters in the country's history as others remained missing hours after the blast.
Sunken superyacht believed to contain watertight safes with sensitive intelligence data
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
Trudeau to attend United Nations General Assembly amid turbulence around the world
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to be in New York this week for the 78th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and the Summit of the Future amid increasing geopolitical instability around the world.
Myths busted and lessons learned: John Vennavally-Rao on his surgery to reverse his ostomy
Twenty-seven year Â鶹ӰÊÓ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
Coffee could be more than a morning pick-me-up, according to new research
A morning cup of coffee may do more than just perk you up, according to new research.
4 killed and multiple people wounded in Birmingham late night shooting, Alabama police say
Four people have died and more than 20 were wounded in a shooting in a nightlife area in Birmingham, Alabama, according to police and news reports.
Challengers make gains in banking, but it's a long road to higher market share
It’s not easy going up against Canada’s banking oligopoly, but some are trying.
The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
Luck of the draw: N.L. ads to be featured in match against football giants Chelsea
Newfoundland and Labrador sponsored a minor football team in England, now they’re about to play one of the biggest clubs in European soccer.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.