Taxpayers Slated for $20-Billion Carbon Capture Boondoggle: Experts

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government is proposing a $20-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) project to make Alberta oil among the lowest-carbon intensity produced barrels in the world. This plan would be 75% financed by federal and Alberta taxpayers, adding to the up to $40 billion pipeline costs already covered by taxpayers.

Martha Hall Findlay, a former Liberal MP and director of the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, has expressed her opposition to the project. She previously championed CCUS as chief sustainability and climate officer at Suncor Energy but now claims it would result in significant costs with only a 0.02% reduction in global industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

The project, known as Pathways, requires building over 650 km of new pipeline and storage infrastructure, which will likely face regulatory and legal challenges. According to Kenneth Greene's report for the Fraser Institute, CCUS is inefficient when used for emission storage and often fails to meet promised reduction targets due to significant cost overruns.

Carney's decision to support CCUS has been criticized as 'mindless virtue-signalling' in a country that produces just 1.6% of global emissions. Instead, the report suggests selling Canada's vast natural gas resources globally could be an effective way to lower global emissions by replacing coal-fired electricity.