Trudeau says Canada's oil sands must be phased out

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet requirements of the Paris Agreement on c
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet requirements of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which Canada has ratified

Canada must "phase out" Alberta's oil sands and end the country's dependence on hydrocarbons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

"We can't shut down the oil sands tomorrow. We need to phase them out," he said. "We need to manage the transition off our dependence on fossil fuels."

He was responding to a question at a town hall event about his decision in late November to authorize an increase in the capacity of two in the country's west.

Upgrading them will increase Canada's export capacity by nearly a million barrels a day.

"You can't make a choice between what's good for the environment and what's good for the economy," he said about reconciling the fight against climate change with economic growth.

Canada is the world's sixth-largest oil producer.

However, Trudeau is committed to reducing to meet the requirements of the United Nations Paris Agreement on , which Canada has ratified.

The last year announced a national carbon tax effective in 2018.

It was supported by the province of Alberta, where the country's petroleum industry is concentrated.

But the prime minister's latest remarks on oil sands have prompted a furious response from the conservative opposition.

"If Mr Trudeau wants to shut down Alberta's oil sands, and my hometown, let him be warned: He'll have to go through me and four million Albertans first," said Brian Jean, leader of Canada's hardline conservative Wildrose Party, who formerly represented Fort McMurray, Alberta's oil capital, in Parliament.

Environmental activists are highly critical of projects involving oil sands because of their economic and environmental costs. Oil locked in the subsoil of the boreal forest must be extracted by a long, polluting and energy-intensive process.

The oil is profitable only when global prices are high. Two major oil companies, Shell and Statoil, pulled out of the Canadian late last year.

© 2017 AFP

Citation: Trudeau says Canada's oil sands must be phased out (2017, January 14) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2017-01-trudeau-canada-oil-sands-phased.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Statoil exits oil sands projects in Canada

86 shares

Feedback to editors