Prime Minister Mark Carney stood accused of peddling embarrassing misinformation this week after the PM declared his government’s definition of “nation-building” projects might include “decarbonized” oil.
During their meeting in Saskatoon on Monday, Carney and provincial/territorial premiers began work on a list of natural resource and infrastructure megaprojects that might be subject to a fast-tracked review process that is raising alarm among many First Nations and in the environmental assessment community. Carney said the group would refine what should count as priority projects over the summer months, adding that as “private proponents become aware of the opportunity here, we’re going to see more projects coming forward.”
At a closing news conference after the meeting, Carney listed several projects that might make the first ministers’ priority list, including the deeply troubled Pathways Alliance carbon capture and storage hub and an oil pipeline to the northwest coast. In his statement, he said “decarbonized” barrels of oil would be “within the broader context of national interest.”
“Yes, there’s real potential there,” he told media. “It took up a good deal of our time in discussions with potential to move forward on that. If further developed, the federal government will look to advance it.”
That drew an immediate response from University of British Columbia climate scientist Simon Donner, co-chair of the federal Net Zero Advisory Body, who told the Toronto Star it’s misleading to suggest fossil fuels can be burned without emitting the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.
“There is no such thing as decarbonized oil and gas,” Donner said. “Oil contains carbon. It is high school chemistry. And [it emits] carbon dioxide when they’re used.”
Donner added: “The government is going to embarrass itself by using such industry and marketing speak.”
Adam Scott, executive director of Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planetary Health, said it fell to Donner to “state the obvious in response to misinformation” from the Prime Minister. “Nothing about this fact-check is political. It’s just a basic statement of reality,” Scott wrote on LinkedIn.
“No matter how much anyone wants it, it’s simply not possible to ‘decarbonize’ literal chains of hydrocarbons produced and sold for combustion,” he added. “Bolting carbon capture projects to oil and gas production projects can’t remove the imperative to phase them out of our energy system in order to stabilize our climate. Building new oil and gas pipelines directly undermines climate commitments and blocks our path to addressing the crisis. New export pipelines either lock in higher climate-wrecking emissions, or quickly become stranded assets. No amount of political context changes this.”
Janetta McKenzie, director of oil and gas at the Calgary-based Pembina Institute, noted that climate pollution from oil and gas production increased 70% between 2005 and 2023, while most of the rest of the economy began cutting emissions. In March, the latest federal emissions inventory put the increase for oil sands at 143%.
“With questions about when the Pathways project could come online, McKenzie said policies like carbon pricing and regulations to limit emissions are needed if high levels of production can continue without blowing Canada’s effort to hit its emissions targets over the next decade,” the Star writes.
David Huntley 
Geoffrey Pounder 
Guardineer 
Decarbonization is possible. Remove the carbon and you are left with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, and small amounts of other elements. The hydrogen can be shipped by pipeline as a fuel. You do not want it to combine withe oxygen as that results in water; in gaseous form it is a potent greenhouse gas. 😈
Decarbonized barrels?
Grand bargain?
New pipelines?
DEBUNKED!
The ad men have been busy. The greenwashers hard at work.
In coming months, Canadians are going to hear a lot about decarbonized barrels and grand bargains — all in a big push for new oilsands export pipelines.
—
1) PM Carney: “Within the broader context of national interest, the interest is in decarbonized barrels.”
Step up, step up! Get your decarbonized bitumen here!
What are “decarbonized barrels”?
The worst sort of greenwashing.
There are no “decarbonized barrels”. The barrels that leave our shores via new pipelines will have the exact same carbon content as before. It’s the same high-carbon dilbit that it always was. Sold at a discount because it’s harder and more costly to refine.
The O&G industry has proposed various ways to reduce upstream emissions associated with oilsands extraction. Front and centre is carbon capture and storage (CCS). Six big oilsands companies — the Pathways Alliance — are working together to push a big CCS project.
Downstream emissions — generated when the fuel is burned — represent about 80-90% of the emissions from a barrel of oil. CCS won’t reduce those emissions.
CCS is supposed to address the 10-20% of emissions from a barrel of oil that occur during oilsands extraction.
Only problem: CCS is wildly expensive. Energy-intensive. Does not capture other pollutants. And it won’t work.
CCS cuts a fraction of upstream emissions at high cost.
Understandably, O&G companies don’t want to pay for it. They want to dump the bill on taxpayers.
OK, that’s five problems.
CCS is viable only for concentrated CO2 emissions streams.
Most emissions sources in the oilsands are small, spread out, at low CO2 concentration.
So scratch that idea. Right?
Not so fast.
The main purpose of CCS? To provide political cover for fossil-fuel expansion and new projects.
It’s a dodge, pure and simple.
2) What’s this “grand bargain” Premier Smith is talking up?
Simple. If taxpayers cough up 75% of the cost for the Pathways Alliance scam, that clears the way for a new pipeline. Also, possibly funded by taxpayers.
Some bargain! Some logic!
The O&G industry gets BOTH taxpayer-funded CCS AND new pipeline(s).
In return for taxpayer-funded CCS, the O&G industry gets new pipeline(s).
Taxpayers get the bill. For both.
Some bargain.
Smith’s “grand bargain” does not involve any new effective climate policy or measures. On the contrary, it involves repealing just about all federal climate policy:
“In a letter to Carney in May, Smith called on the federal government to repeal a cap on oil and gas emissions, eliminate the federal system for pricing industrial emissions and withdraw clean electricity regulations. She also opposes the federal government’s zero-emission vehicle sales targets and ban on single-use plastics.
“Is another ‘grand bargain’ necessary to build another pipeline?” (CBC, Jun 03, 2025)
How’s this for a deal?
I take your house, and in return you give me your car.
Not sweet enough? OK, I’ll chip in for gas. You only have to pay half.
PM Carney and Premier Smith take Canadians for chumps.
Maybe they’re right.
3) A mere 16% increase in production will offset a 14% reduction in emissions.
After which, grossly under-reported oilsands emissions continue to rise.
In return for this scam, largely funded by taxpayers, the O&G industry gets new pipelines, likely also largely funded by taxpayers — and the green light to keep expanding.
Huh? What?
The taxpayer (public) pays for fake emissions reductions, while the O&G industry’s largely foreign shareholders walks away with the “profits”.
Tens of billions of tax dollars down the drain.
Some bargain!
Carbon capture’s high cost make CCS a terrible investment. Huge opportunity costs. We have cheaper ways to cut more emissions faster. Why invest limited public resources in CCS, when far more cost-effective solutions are available?
Under this CCS-for-pipelines “bargain”, grossly under-reported O&G emissions would continue to rise.
To hell with climate targets.
To hell with climate.
To hell with your grandchildren.
O&G profits are more important.
PM Carney ushers in a new era of Disaster Capitalism.
Taking advantage of the Trump tariff chaos to engineer climate disaster.
Wildfires? Heatwaves? Melting glaciers? Landslides? Coral bleaching?
Bring it on!
Right on. CCS is a taxpayer massively funded non-workable highly inefficient boondoggle distraction pushed by big_oil to delay transition.