Trudeau’s resignation could derail major carbon capture project: experts

The $16.5-billion high-profile project in question would capture harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the oilsands, Canada's heaviest-emitting sector. 

The fate of Canada’s largest proposed carbon capture and storage project is even more uncertain after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement this week amplified existing unknowns around the future of energy and climate policy in Canada, experts say.

The $16.5-billion high-profile project in question would capture harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the oilsands, Canada’s heaviest-emitting sector.

It would be built by the Pathways Alliance, a consortium whose members include some of Canada’s largest energy companies.

But industry watchers say the project’s future is cloudy due to current political turmoil and the likelihood that a new federal government will be elected this year.

“I can’t imagine a huge project like that could really move forward in a time like right now,” said Michael Bernstein, executive director of the non-profit group Clean Prosperity.

“When you’re looking at a project that has at least a 15-year time horizon, you want as much certainty as possible. And there’s just more uncertainty than I can remember in my whole time doing this work right now.”

The Pathways Alliance is made up of six oilsands companies that have jointly committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands production by 2050.

Their proposed project, the centrepiece of that commitment, would capture carbon dioxide emissions from more than 20 oilsands facilities in northern Alberta and transport them 400 kilometres away by pipeline to a terminal in the Cold Lake area, where they would be stored in an underground hub to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.