Letter from Canada: Under siege oil sands pledge support for emissions cuts

Critics highlight that the energy sector needs to accelerate decarbonisation if Canada is to meet its climate goals

 Canada has yet to walk the talk on carbon emission reductions. And to a great extent this can be blamed on rapidly rising emissions from the country’s oil and gas industry, especially the oil sands. On the eve of the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow, prominent environmentalists and sympathetic thinktanks have released commentary and research reports arguing that Canada must shutter its oil and gas industry to achieve its international commitments—cutting emissions to 40-45pc below 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. One of Canada’s most famous environmentalists, Tzeporah Berman, wrote that during the recent election campaign Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal Party had prom