(Above Ground, Ottawa, 4 August 2023) Ottawa has taken a major step forward towards ending another significant component of its fossil fuel support. It announced last week a policy that makes Canada the first G20 country to publish a plan for delivering on the group’s 2009 commitment to phase out so-called “inefficient” subsidies to the fossil fuel sector. Under the new policy, federal support identified as a fossil fuel subsidy can no longer be provided unless it fulfills one of six criteria. Unfortunately, these criteria provide for significant exemptions that may allow fossil fuel companies peddling false climate solutions to benefit from billions of dollars a year in tax breaks and public spending. For example, Ottawa will still provide subsidies that facilitate “abated production processes” – language often used by oil companies to describe their use of carbon capture technology to reduce emissions from their own operations. This ignores the much larger quantity released when the fuels they produce are burned. Perhaps most significantly, the new policy leaves intact public financing from Export Development Canada (EDC), which Ottawa – contentiously – doesn’t consider a subsidy. Last year alone, EDC provided roughly $20 billion in financing to oil and gas companies, mostly in the form of loans, guarantees and insurance. This represents the overwhelming bulk of Canada’s financial support for the sector. Ottawa has pledged to “develop a plan” to phase out this financing as well. As of January the government has, under its Glasgow policy, barred EDC from providing new, direct financing for most oil and gas activities abroad. Yet this doesn’t touch the majority of EDC’s fossil fuel finance, which supports the industry’s operations in Canada.

(Toronto Star, Ottawa, 17 January 2022) By Karen Hamilton, director of ECA Watch member Above Ground, a project of MakeWay Charitable Society that works to ensure companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment wherever they operate. Fossil fuel subsidies will likely figure prominently in climate policy debates when Parliament resumes sitting later this month, with particular focus on how Ottawa will fulfil its recent pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2023, two years earlier than originally promised. Equally deserving of public attention is the government’s commitment to phase out public financing of fossil fuels. This support, which the government does not consider a subsidy, has led to Canada being singled out on the world stage as one of the biggest boosters of fossil fuels. At last count, this support totalled $13.6 billion a year on average. Most of Canada’s fossil finance comes from Export Development Canada (EDC), which provides loans, insurance and other forms of support to companies in Canada and abroad. EDC has recently issued billions in loans for controversial projects such as the Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines.

(Above Ground, Ottawa, 22 July 2020) Canada’s oil and gas sector could receive billions of dollars in public financial aid as a result of Ottawa’s COVID-19 economic response package. The new sums are in addition to the billions of dollars in routine loans and other supports that the industry receives annually through federal export bank Export Development Canada (EDC), which has been given a significant role in delivering this new federal aid. Above Ground, Environmental Defence and Oil Change International have submitted a joint brief to the Senate and House of Commons finance committees that are studying the COVID-19 response measures. The submission outlines EDC’s role in Ottawa’s oil and gas bailout and makes recommendations to align the government’s economic support measures with Canada’s climate commitments. The UN has warned of catastrophic consequences if the world, and particularly G20 countries, do not dramatically upscale their decarbonization efforts to achieve a 55% cut in global emissions within the decade. With Canada on track to widely miss its inadequate 2030 emissions target, it is more urgent than ever for Ottawa to impose robust climate conditions on all forms of federal aid. This aid must serve to accelerate, rather than delay, the transition to a low-carbon economy. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders, in a July 29 Globe and Mail article, notes that Canada commits more public financing to support fossil fuels than any G20 country other than China, an average US$10.6-billion of annual support to oil and gas firms via Export Development Canada.