Alberta
Alberta’s methane emissions fall 52 per cent
Alberta has cut its methane emissions from the oil and gas sector in half, showing how to reduce emissions and keep powering the world.
As global demand for energy continues to rise, Alberta remains one of the most responsible producers in the world. The province was the first in Canada to set a methane emissions reduction target for the upstream oil and gas sector, and its approach has won international awards and recognition.
This is the message Alberta’s government will take to COP 29. The Alberta approach is working. It is possible to reduce methane emissions and grow the economy, all while delivering the safe, affordable, reliable energy the world will need for generations to come.
According to the latest data from the Alberta Energy Regulator, Alberta has now officially reduced methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 52 per cent since 2014, even as production has continued rising. The province’s common-sense approach is reducing emissions, creating jobs and growing the economy without punitive federal regulations or caps.
“We do not need Ottawa to tell us how to reduce emissions. In fact, the federal government should learn from Alberta’s success. By working closely with industry and focusing on technology, not costly taxes or unrealistic targets, we can achieve rapid emission reductions while delivering the safe, affordable, reliable energy the world needs.”
Under Alberta’s equivalency agreement with the Government of Canada, the province is in charge of regulating methane emissions. Alberta’s approach is working closely with industry and focusing on achievable results, including early action programs like carbon offsets, implementation of strong provincial regulatory requirements in place for all facilities, and improved leak detection and repair. This is estimated to have saved industry about $600 million compared with the alternative federal regulations that would otherwise have been required.
Since 2020, Alberta has invested $78 million from the industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program to improve methane monitoring and management. Almost 15,000 well sites and facilities have been reviewed across the province, preventing nearly 17 million tonnes of emissions from being released.
Continuing this momentum, the province recently announced $15 million in funding for the NGIF Emissions Testing Centre to help companies test technologies free of charge in both laboratory and live settings, attract investors and get methane emissions reduction technologies to market faster. Alberta is also engaging with industry to develop a flexible, forward-looking path that will keep reducing emissions while supporting responsible energy production.
“Tourmaline, like other producers in Western Canada, has been diligently reducing methane emission intensity across our field operations, and we are targeting a 55 per cent reduction from 2020 levels by 2027. We operate a world-leading methane emissions testing centre (ETC) at our West Wolf Lake gas plant near Edson, Alberta. At the ETC site, the latest technologies to better measure and mitigate future methane emissions are being developed.”
Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz will travel to the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) from Nov. 10 to 16 to share Alberta’s success with the world. Alberta’s environment minister will use the largest global climate summit to promote the province’s effective approach to reducing emissions while keeping energy reliable, secure and affordable.
Alberta’s government is committed to working with national and international partners to advance shared interests that can lead to new opportunities for people and businesses around the world.
Minister Schulz will attend COP29 with one staff member and three department officials. Mission expenses will be posted on the travel and expense disclosure page.
Itinerary for Minister Schulz*
Nov. 10-11 |
|
Nov. 12 |
|
Nov. 13 |
|
Nov. 14 |
|
Nov. 15 |
|
Nov. 16 |
|
*Subject to change.
Quick facts
- The Alberta Energy Regulator monitors, compiles and reports methane emissions data by facility type, production type and area. It releases the ST60B report annually to ensure the public and stakeholders have the latest information about methane emissions from Alberta’s upstream oil and gas sector.
- Alberta carbon offset protocols resulted in more than 58,000 low- or no-bleed devices being installed, and more than 7 million offset credits have been serialized.
- Alberta uses a combination of bottom-up and top-down measurement, monitoring and verification techniques as part of methane measurement compliance data.
Related information
Addictions
Alberta closing Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site in favor of recovery model
Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Dan Williams, at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on Sept. 11 2024. [Photo credit: Alexandra Keeler]
Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health and Addiction explains the shift from overdose prevention to recovery amid community concerns
On Sept. 23, Alberta announced the city of Red Deer would be closing the community’s only overdose prevention site by spring 2025. The closure will mark the first time an Alberta community completely eliminates its supervised consumption services.
The decision to close the site was taken by the city — not the province. But it aligns with Alberta’s decision to prioritize recovery-focused approaches to addiction and mental health over harm-reduction strategies.
“The whole idea of the Alberta Recovery Model is that unless you create off-ramps [from] addiction, you’re barreling ahead towards a brick wall, and that’s going to be devastating,” Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams told Canadian Affairs in an interview in September.
However, the closure — which parallels similar moves by other provinces — has sparked debate over whether recovery-oriented models adequately meet the needs of at-risk populations.
The Alberta Recovery Model
The Alberta Recovery Model, which was first introduced by Alberta’s UCP government in November 2023, emphasizes prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery.
It is informed by recommendations from Alberta’s Mental Health and Addiction Advisory Council and research from the Stanford Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis.
“Alberta, in our continuum of care, has everything from low entry, low barriers, and zero cost [for] detox, to treatment, to virtual opioid dependency, to outreach teams working with shelters,” said Williams.
Williams said that Alberta intends to continue funding safe consumption sites as short-term harm-reduction measures. But it views them as temporary components in the continuum of care.
This is not without controversy.
At the Feb. 15 Red Deer council meeting where councillors voted 5-2 to close the city’s safe consumption site, some councillors noted that safe consumption sites play an essential role in the continuum of care.
“Each individual is at a different stage of addiction … the overdose prevention site does play a role in the treatment spectrum,” said Coun. Dianne Wyntjes, who voted against the closure.
While Red Deer is home to Alberta’s first provincially funded addiction treatment facility, Wyntjes noted there had been reports within the community of the facility lacking capacity to meet demand.
She pointed to Lethbridge’s experience in 2020, where overdose deaths spiked after its consumption site was replaced with mobile services.
The Ontario government’s recent decision to close 10 safe consumption sites located near schools and daycares has prompted similar concerns.
In August, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones told reporters that the province plans to “very quickly” replace the closed sites with Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs that prioritize community safety, treatment and recovery. But critics — including site workers, NDP MPPs and harm-reduction advocates — have warned these shutdowns will lead to an increase in fatal overdoses.
It is possible that Alberta, Ontario and other jurisdictions will make other moves in tandem in the coming months and years.
In April, Alberta announced it was partnering with Ontario and Saskatchewan to build recovery-focused care systems. The partnerships include sharing of best practices and advocating for recovery-focused policies and investments at the federal level.
Our content is always free – but if you want to help us commission more high-quality journalism, consider getting a voluntary paid subscription.
‘Mandatory treatment’
Another controversial component of Alberta — and other provinces’ — recovery-oriented strategy is involuntary care.
The UCP government has said it plans to introduce “compassionate intervention” legislation next year that will enable family members, doctors or police officers to seek court orders mandating treatment for individuals with substance use disorders who pose a risk to themselves or others.
“If someone is a danger to themselves or others in the most extreme circumstances because of their addiction, then we as a society have an obligation to intervene, and that might include mandatory treatment,” said Williams.
Critics have raised concerns about increasing reliance on involuntary care options.
“Over the last two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in reliance on involuntary services [such as psychiatric admissions and treatment orders], while voluntary services have not kept up with demand,” the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association said in a Sept. 18 statement published on their website.
The statement followed an announcement by B.C. Premier David Eby — who was recently reelected — to expand involuntary care in that province.
Research from Yale University’s School of Public Health indicates involuntary interventions for substance use are generally no more effective than voluntary treatment, and can in some cases cause more harm than good. The research notes that “involuntary centers often serve as venues for abuse.”
A 2023 McMaster University study that synthesized the research on involuntary treatment from international jurisdictions similarly found inconclusive outcomes. It recommended expanding voluntary care options to minimize reliance on involuntary measures.
Williams emphasized that the province’s involuntary care legislation would target “a very small group of people for whom all else has failed … those at the far end of the addiction spectrum with very serious and devastating addictions.”
‘Off-ramps from addiction’
Over the past six years, Alberta has incrementally increased its mental health and addiction budget from an initial $50 million to a cumulative total of $1.5 billion.
The funding boost has enabled Alberta to eliminate a $40 daily user fee for some detox and recovery services, add 10,000 publicly funded addiction treatment spaces, and expand access to its Virtual Opioid Dependency Program, which offers same-day access to life-saving medications.
To support addiction prevention, Williams said Alberta is expanding CASA Classrooms in schools. These offer mental health support and therapy to Grade 4-12 students who have ongoing mental health challenges, and equip school staff and caregivers to support these students.
“Mental health and addiction needs to be as connected to the emergency room as it is to the classroom,” Williams said. “We need to be able to understand low-acuity chronic mental health challenges as they begin to manifest [in the community].”
The province is also in the process of establishing 11 residential recovery communities across the province. These centres provide free, extended treatment averaging four months — which is longer than most recovery programs.
Oct. 23 marked the one-year anniversary of one such centre, the Lethbridge Recovery Community. The $19-million, 50-bed facility served more than 110 clients in its first year and expects to serve about 200 individuals in 2025.
“I’m coming to see that entering treatment is only the start,” said Sean P., a client of Lethbridge Recovery Community, in a government press release celebrating the anniversary.
“With the support of the staff and the community here, I’m beginning to face my past and make real changes. Recovery is giving me the tools I need for this journey, and I’m genuinely excited to keep growing and moving forward with their help.”
Our content is always free – but if you want to help us commission more high-quality journalism, consider getting a voluntary paid subscription.
Agriculture
2024 harvest wrap-up: Minister Sigurdson
As the 2024 growing season comes to a close, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson issued the following statement:
“While many Albertans were enjoying beautiful fall days with above-average temperatures, farmers were working around the clock to get crops off their fields before the weather turned. I commend their continued dedication to growing quality crops, putting food on tables across the province and around the world.
“Favourable weather conditions in August and early September allowed for a rapid start to harvest, leading to quick and efficient completion.
“The final yield estimates show that while the South, North West and Peace regions were slightly above average, the yields in the Central and North East regions were below average.
“Crop quality for oats and dry peas is currently exceeding the five-year average, with a higher rate of these crops grading in the top two grade categories. In contrast, spring wheat, durum, barley and canola are all grading in the top two grades at rates lower than the five-year average.
“Crop grading is a process that determines the quality of a grain crop based on visual inspection and instrument analysis. Factors like frost damage, colour, moisture content and sprouting all impact grade and affect how the grain will perform during processing or how the end product will turn out. Alberta generally produces high-quality crops.
“Farmers faced many challenges over the last few years and, for some areas of the province, 2024 was a difficult growing season. But Alberta producers are innovative and resilient. They work constantly to meet challenges head-on and drive sustainable growth in our agricultural sector.
“Alberta farmers help feed the world, and I’m proud of the reputation for safe, high-quality agricultural products that this industry has built for itself. Thank you to our producers, and congratulations on another successful harvest!”
-
Energy2 days ago
A balanced approach shows climate change has been good for us: Alex Epstein
-
International1 day ago
BREAKING: Republicans retake Senate with at least 51-seat majority
-
International1 day ago
DonaTrump projected to win presidential election, defeating Harris: Fox News
-
International1 day ago
Trump declares victory as he closes in on 270
-
conflict1 day ago
How the Biden-Harris admin pushed Russia into war with Ukraine
-
RCMP24 hours ago
Drugs, gun, money seized as RCMP arrest 2 in Red Deer
-
Censorship Industrial Complex2 days ago
Freedom of speech tops list of concerns for Americans
-
espionage2 days ago
Breaking: CSIS warned Health Canada of “insider threat” from Wuhan Institute-tied scientist Dr. Qiu Seven Months Before Lethal Ebola Shipped to China