• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Renewables ‘Set to Soar’ with 440 GW of New Installations in 2023: IEA June 4, 2023
Greek Industrial Giant Announces 1.4-GW Alberta Solar Farm, Canada’s Biggest June 4, 2023
Shift to Remote Work Cuts Commutes, Frees Downtown Space for Affordable Housing June 4, 2023
2.7M Hectares Lost, Nova Scotia at Ground Zero in ‘Unprecedented’ Early Wildfire Season June 4, 2023
Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion? June 1, 2023
Next
Prev

Fund Renewables Transition with Record Oil and Gas Profits, Columnist Urges

March 17, 2022
Reading time: 3 minutes

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/Energy/tarsands/

Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace

1
SHARES
 

With oil prices soaring, Canada’s fossil industry is reaping record profits that ought to be invested in a low-carbon transition, not spent as returns for shareholders, says a Montreal-based finance professor who’s urging the feds to force the sector’s hand—to address the climate crisis, and for the workers who will inevitably suffer when fossil fortunes tank.

“Putting a cap on fossil fuel production or taxing excess profits unless invested in renewables are a few tools that the government could use,” Amir Barnea writes for the Toronto Star, in a column detailing just how far the tar sands/oil sands sector sits from acting voluntarily on its net-zero promises.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Barnea cites Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL), the country’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company as an example. On a recent CNRL conference call for analysts and investors, CEO Tim McKay celebrated a very good 2021—the company raked in a $7.66-billion profit on revenues of $30.1 billion.

“And these numbers don’t even reflect the recent surge of more than 50% in oil prices due to the war in Ukraine,” writes Barnea, adding that oil prices rose to nearly US 130 a barrel this week, “a stunning increase from $18 a barrel two short years ago.”

Overseeing a company now worth roughly $90 billion, McKay said CNRL would “continue to allocate cash flow to maximize value for our shareholders,” noting that such shareholder returns “are significant: $2.2 billion in dividends and $1.6 billion in share repurchases for a total of $3.8 billion.”

But beyond “a couple of general statements,” there was no talk about how CNRL plans to achieve its net-zero by 2050 goal, as laid out by the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero initiative, which CNRL joined last June alongside Canada’s five other tar sands/oil sands heavyweights: Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy, and Suncor Energy.

“There really is very little happening in the real world in terms of investments by those companies that show that they’re actually implementing the vision,” Chris Severson-Baker, Alberta regional director at the Pembina Institute, told Barnea.

The proposed net-zero initiative is estimated to cost the six signatories anywhere between $30 and $75 billion, and they are currently lobbying Ottawa to cover up to 75% of that sum.

“I don’t think they’ve made a very strong case for why that’s necessary, especially given the revenue that they have available to them,” Severson-Baker told Barnea.

Given the sector’s failure to “seize the opportunity when their stocks are trading at all-time high and actually raise capital in order to finance their transition to a low-carbon future,” and in the absence of “influential activist shareholders to direct the firms in the right direction,” it is time for Ottawa “to demand that the industry starts its transition,” writes Barnea. That planned transition, he says, is essential to protect oil and gas employees whose jobs will be in jeopardy once the demand for oil declines.



in Canada, Climate Denial & Greenwashing, Community Climate Finance, Ending Emissions, Energy Politics, Tar Sands / Oil Sands

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

sunrise windmill
International Agencies & Studies

Renewables ‘Set to Soar’ with 440 GW of New Installations in 2023: IEA

June 5, 2023
147
Pixabay
Solar

Greek Industrial Giant Announces 1.4-GW Alberta Solar Farm, Canada’s Biggest

June 4, 2023
130
Oregon Department of Transportation/flickr
Cities & Communities

Shift to Remote Work Cuts Commutes, Frees Downtown Space for Affordable Housing

June 5, 2023
86

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

/MaxPixels

‘Substantial Damage’, No Injuries as Freight Train Hits Wind Turbine Blade

May 25, 2022
14.6k
sunrise windmill

Renewables ‘Set to Soar’ with 440 GW of New Installations in 2023: IEA

June 5, 2023
147
Natural Resources Canada

2.7M Hectares Lost, Nova Scotia at Ground Zero in ‘Unprecedented’ Early Wildfire Season

June 4, 2023
170
Pixabay

Greek Industrial Giant Announces 1.4-GW Alberta Solar Farm, Canada’s Biggest

June 4, 2023
130
Oregon Department of Transportation/flickr

Shift to Remote Work Cuts Commutes, Frees Downtown Space for Affordable Housing

June 5, 2023
86
debannja/Pixabay

Austin, Texas Council Committee Backs Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

June 4, 2023
92

Recent Posts

Clairewych/Pixabay

Demand Surges for Giant Heat Pumps as Europe Turns to District Heating

June 4, 2023
87
nicolasdebraypointcom/pixabay

Factor Gender into Transportation Planning, IISD Analyst Urges Policy-Makers

June 4, 2023
39
moerschy / Pixabay

Federal Climate Plans Must Embrace Community-Driven Resilience

June 4, 2023
55
Equinor

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
879
Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op/Facebook

‘Hinge Moment’ for Humanity Demands ‘YIMBY’ Mentality: McKibben

June 1, 2023
79
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Notley

Notley Would Have Backed Carbon Capture Subsidies, Smith Less Certain: Ex-Pipeline Exec

June 1, 2023
100
Next Post
Andrew Smith/geograph

Permafrost Peatlands ‘On a Precipice’, But Strong Policies Can Limit Climate Threat

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}