Canada’s proposed emissions cap explained [Video]

OTTAWA –

The federal government has published new draft regulations that will force oil and gas companies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions. 

Here’s what that looks like, and what it might mean for the industry and for Canada’s climate targets: 

1. What is an emissions cap and what does it target?

The government is essentially proposing to put a limit on how much oil and gas producers can pollute with greenhouse gas emissions. Those producers together account for 31 per cent of Canada’s total emissions.

Under the proposed regulations, those producers would be required to cut their emissions by about one-third below 2019 levels over the next eight years.

2. What are the oil and gas industry’s current emissions?

In 2022, the most recent year for which Canada’s emissions data is available, oil and gas production and refining emitted 256 million tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent weight in other …