Natural gas must be part of the solution if governments are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly and efficiently without catastrophic power outages.
Article content
When it comes to global energy issues, life comes quickly.
ad 2
Article content
It has come so quickly that Canada has missed an opportunity to add billions of dollars each year to our economy in economic growth, improve global energy security and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions related to climate change.
Article content
Both the European Union and the G7 (of which Canada is a member) have embraced the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to make up for a shortage caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shutdown of exports to Europe, And reducing global emissions by replacing coal-fired electricity with natural gas.
Natural gas is only half as carbon intensive as coal, and the use of coal to generate electricity is the single largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The good news is that Canada is the world’s fifth largest natural gas producer and sixth largest natural gas exporter.
ad 3
Article content
The bad news is that almost all shipments go to the US because we cannot ship it from Western Canada to Tidewater and from there to global markets in Europe and Asia.
That means it has to be sold at a huge discount, costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars in economic growth every year.
At the same time, we are led by a prime minister who has consistently maintained that a global gas shortage means Canada should switch more quickly to so-called “clean” energy sources such as unreliable and intermittent wind and solar, and he seems to believe that All fossil fuels are dirty words.
At least that’s a signal to Canadians from Justin Trudeau, who, as his lack of enthusiasm for shipping LNG directly from Canada to Europe has recently shown, claims he’s open to the idea, but due to a lack of infrastructure, It’s not economically viable, and the approval process for such infrastructure is not part of the problem, like Canada’s Byzantine.
ad 4
Article content
Strange because Trudeau represented Canada at the June G7 meeting — Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Japan – Agree with their Official Gazette:
“In order to accelerate the gradual transition away from Russian energy dependence, we stress the important role that increased LNG supply can play and acknowledge the need for investment in the industry to deal with the current crisis.”
The European Union went further in July, classifying natural gas (along with nuclear power) as a green energy source for power generation rather than coal.
This is important because it signals to global investors that government policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions can include projects on natural gas, which now generates nearly 40% of global electricity if used to replace coal.
ad 5
Article content
In the real world, natural gas must be part of the solution if governments are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly and efficiently without catastrophic power outages.
That’s what Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said in an acceptance speech last week, when he referred to using “technology, not taxes” to tackle climate change.
for example? The U.S., which has never imposed a carbon tax, surpassed its 2020 goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 17% below 2005 levels, largely by replacing coal-fired power with fracking-derived natural gas .
Canada has the same goals and the carbon tax – which Poilievre says he will repeal – misses it by a mile.
What Poilievre has yet to explain is how he will do it.