Canada’s oil and gas isn’t the answer to the European energy crisis

Until recently, environmental researchers in Canada have complained about the lack of attention to climate issues by government and media. Things have certainly taken a change for the better. Growing awareness about the scale and scope of our climate crisis has amplified public debate and resulted in policy prescriptions at all levels of government. Business and industry, too, have changed what they do and how they do it, to aid the environment while making profits. Canada might have been slow on the uptake. But at least it’s now moving in the right direction on climate change. Or is it? Even for researchers, it can be hard to navigate the current confusing landscape of government action and inaction, and climate initiatives announced by political parties and businesses. Without a clear sense of just what’s going on, the public can be forgiven for uncertainty about exactly where we stand. But there’s actually an easy way to clarify the climate picture. It’s to remember the aim is to develop energy resources that don’t put the lives of our children at risk by polluting land and air in ways which will be very difficult to address. Other claims about the right thing to do are simply diversions created by parties who aren’t really interested in climate action. Two recent developments shaping the energy landscape in Canada offer examples of just these kinds of diversions and confusions. The Russian invasion has been traumatic for the Ukrainian people. Perversely, it has been a boon to the oil and gas industry, which has everywhere made a strong case for renewed extraction in the West to cut ties to the Russian oil industry. This is true even of the Canadian oil industry, which has no significant link to the European Union, but has nevertheless been making its case for continued extraction in support of geopolitical security. Even the tired old trope of “ethical oil” has been trotted out to inject fuel into an industry which refuses to change. Canadians can be forgiven for wanting to support Europeans by extracting more fossil fuels. But Canadian oil and gas won’t have any real impact on the European energy crisis; claims that it will are designed to help industry here to keep both greenhouse gases and profits flowing. There’s no doubt that, in the short term, Europeans will need access to the fuels which currently power their energy systems and infrastructures. But the way forward isn’t a renewed commitment to oil and gas—a policy which has proved geopolitically disastrous—but to switch ever more rapidly to renewables. New liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals take a lot longer to build than solar and wind farms. Going renewable means both national energy security and fewer greenhouse gases, while avoiding the addition of what will eventually become stranded assets. Alongside the war in Ukraine, Canadians have been facing another energy crisis. Ontario’s aging nuclear reactors require a major overhaul, and its energy system needs power. This might seem like an excellent moment to expand renewable energy in the province. Instead, the province intends to further expand its nuclear network, this time through the adoption of small modular reactors (SMRs)—technologies yet to be shown to work effectively. It’s a bad decision, even on an economic basis. Nuclear plants are expensive to build and maintain. By the time retrofits are completed and new reactors come online, nuclear energy will be far more costly than its renewable alternatives. Then there’s the problem of what to do with nuclear waste in Canada. When it comes to the sustainability of nuclear power, the cart has always been placed before the horse. The possibility and feasibility of waste storage facilities needs to be scientifically ascertained before the building of new reactors. We don’t even know what to do with the waste we already have. Creating even more waste is a very bad idea. Should we be sending Canadian LNG to Europe? Should we build more nuclear power in Ontario? In any discussion of energy, what needs to be kept front and centre are the long-term implications of the decisions Canadians make now. The answers being offered to both these questions make it clear this isn’t happening right now. Imre Szeman is University Research Chair of Environmental Communication at the University of Waterloo. He is most recently the author of On Petrocultures: Globalization, Culture, and Energy (2019) and is currently working on The Future of the Sun, a book detailing corporate and state control of the transition to renewables. Devyani Singh is a post-doctoral fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund working on Energy and Climate policy. Her interdisciplinary research has included energy access and transitions in the Global South, air quality (GHG emissions accounting), evaluating climate impacts of national policies, natural resource economics, environmental (carbon) finance, forest sustainability, natural climate solutions, and methane emissions from oil and gas production. The Hill Times

Canada’s oil and gas isn’t the answer to the European energy crisis

Claims that Canadian oil and gas will have any real impact on the European energy crisis are designed to help industry here keep both greenhouse gases and profits flowing.

How can Ontario achieve net zero, with greater energy reliability and resilience? Roadmap to a clean energy future

It’s time to unleash Canada’s energy advantage

Language matters: measuring what you are versus what you are not

The Federal Court decision to overturn the single-use plastic ban is a step backwards for the planet—and our health

Is it better to talk about unity and not practise it, or not talk about it at all?

Poilievre’s miscues won’t save Trudeau

If Russia remains a pariah, Europeans will need Canadian natural gas

Climate change remains the most significant existential threat to human society

Fossil and nuclear energy regimes threaten global security

Federal party positions: should new nuclear reactors be part of a climate action plan?

Oilsands alliance: climate cure or costly delay?

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Canada’s oil and gas isn’t the answer to the European energy crisis

Claims that Canadian oil and gas will have any real impact on the European energy crisis are designed to help industry here keep both greenhouse gases and profits flowing.

Get The Policy Briefings Newsletter