Indigenous roles vital for Net Zero
A landmark report from the Royal Bank of Canada includes these findings:
- Canada’s road to Net Zero will rely heavily on vital sources of capital held by Indigenous nations.
- Canada needs roughly $2 trillion in capital over the next 25 years, much of it from Indigenous sources—or unlocked by Indigenous partnerships, including ownership.
- An Indigenous-led approach to the climate transition, and economic opportunities toward Net Zero, will be essential to economic reconciliation.
The report is titled 92 to Zero. That refers to Call to Action No. 92 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, on Business and Reconciliation.
RBC says Canada needs to leverage four forms of Indigenous capital:
- Natural capital: Indigenous lands hold vast resources essential to green energy systems Indigenous territory.
- Financial capital: The growing wealth of Indigenous communities includes an estimated $20 billion in trust assets and up to $100 billion in outstanding land and other claims.
- Intellectual capital: Incorporating Indigenous values and traditional knowledge will be a powerful advantage for Canada.
- Human capital: Emerging young Indigenous leaders and entrepreneurs will be critical generators of the innovative thinking needed to fuel the green transition.
You can download the full report here: http://ow.ly/NLJh50JBTWF
LNG as ‘The Great Enabler’
As we head deeper into the energy transition, with net zero the goal, what role will LNG play?
While green groups shout for oil and gas to be replaced with renewables (and some seem to want that done overnight) CEO Mike Rose of Canada’s largest natural-gas producer, points a longer-term picture:
“We believe natural gas is the key right now to the energy transformation. We think of it as the great enabler. It’s affordable, it’s reliable, it’s abundant, and if you live outside more than 20 degrees either side of the equator, it’s essential for life as well. . . .
“Now there are some in power in the various Western nations who are trying to arbitrarily accelerate this transition off fossil fuels to 2030 or 2035. It’s an incredibly risky path and will materially change the entire world economy and compromise the standard of living of all Canadians starting by impacting the most disadvantaged.”
Rose is CEO of Tourmaline Oil, a pioneer of the huge Montney gas play in BC and Alberta.
In an interview with Tim Egan, CEO of the Canadian Gas Association, Rose adds: “Canada will have an LNG industry on the West Coast when LNG Canada starts up in 2025 or 2026 . . . but ideally we should build another LNG project or two.”
Read the interview here: http://ow.ly/UXy550JBUUR
Our LNG exports: a new hurdle?
As Ottawa talks of potential exports of Canadian LNG via the east coast, we hear (and fear) that a new roadblock may be on Ottawa’s mind.
If an LNG project claims that its product will replace coal-burning for the generation of power in an overseas market, or replace oil as a marine fuel, the green backroom boys suggest it should have to “prove” to Ottawa’s satisfaction that the end-user customers will do just that. And “prove” how much it would cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
This isn’t a new idea, having been already embraced by a number of environmental groups.
But none of our huge LNG competitors — the US, Qatar, Australia and Russia — would be bound by such a rule.
And while some of our key LNG customers such as China, Japan and South Korea have all spoken of using LNG to replace thermal coal, none has offered to guarantee in writing that it would be used for this; nor has any offered to quantify how much emissions would thus be avoided.
Let’s hope Catch 3 is an idea whose time has not come.
But now we learn that Canada is going to sign on to draft international standards that, among other things, would require companies to ‘account for the emissions from 15 different areas, including how its sold products are used and disposed of.’
As analyst Tammy Nemeth writes: ‘Any industry that produces or utilizes hydrocarbons will be seriously compromised, some to the point of extinction, which is why it is imperative that Canadian hydrocarbon companies and other affected industries submit feedback . . . before the comment cycle closes on July 29.
- Read Nemeth’s analysis: http://ow.ly/zeLp50JEOlS
- Read our blog: http://ow.ly/nG2q50JEPg7
ALSO: The federal and Quebec governments have formally vetoed the planned Energie Saguenay LNG export project in Quebec. But now Ukraine has signed a tentative deal to buy LNG from a firm that hopes to revive Energie Saguenay: http://ow.ly/Xng550Jz7sb
And this from Ellis Ross, BC MLA, Haisla citizen, and former chief councillor of that Nation:
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Canada ‘rising to the top as the premier source of perhaps the greenest natural gas in the world’ with its LNG projects: http://ow.ly/MMlZ50JCxcX
- The golden opportunity for LNG: http://ow.ly/sRvw50JBYb5
- 2,500 more wells said needed in Montney basin to meet demand for LNG: http://ow.ly/ZYLP50JuNh5
- Canadian oil and gas projects are creating opportunity and prosperity for First Nations: http://ow.ly/Y9OA50JzGmm
- Coastal GasLink replaces a prime contractor with a partnership with an Indigenous-led company: http://ow.ly/WkvA50JyHvx
- BC Reconciliation Award winners: http://ow.ly/TWBn50JxrNX
DATES
- Nation2Nation community events will return, with two sessions: Terrace on Thursday Sept. 22, and Prince Rupert on Thursday Oct. 20. Registration details will be coming soon at https://nation2nation.ca/
Know someone who might be interested in our newsletter? Please let them know they can subscribe here, for free.
You’ll also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
(Posted here 26 June 2022)
