Carbon capture and storage: Another oil and gas subsidy?
Federal government plans to move forward with controversial technologies despite promise to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
By Anna Dodd
Environmentalists call it a greenwashing strategy by Big Oil, but carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies have been placed front and centre in the government’s most recent federal budget.
The 2022 budget contains the long-awaited CCUS tax credit.
“This budget continues Canada’s pattern of giving huge windfalls to industrial polluters with limited investment in creating the cleaner future we need,” said Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environmental Defence Canada.
Over a period of five years, the credit will cost $2.6 billion, with the eventual annual cost set at $1.5 billion until 2030. “CCUS technologies,” the budget states, “are an important tool for reducing emissions in high-emitting sectors where other pathways to reduce emissions may be limited or unavailable.” The Globe and Mail writes on April 4 that the “tax credit can boost carbon capture’s role in fighting climate change”.