Carbon Capture Strikes Out in Freeland Budget Plan
Carbon Capture Strikes Out in Freeland Budget Plan
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is getting her ‘to-stop’ list right. The ‘to-do’ list still needs work.
Sometimes the mistakes you dodge and the things you leave unsaid are as important and praiseworthy as the more direct actions you take.
Nowhere is that more true than in the push to drive down emissions, where “cutting with both arms of the scissors” means ending ties with the fossil fuel industries that are driving climate calamity, while simultaneously directing time, attention, and investment dollars to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy storage.
That’s why it was an unexpected and happy surprise to see Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland release an economic statement Thursday that takes Canada part-way down the road to the emerging, global green economy.
Despite several weeks of media messaging and intensive private lobbying for an increase in Ottawa’s already-lavish, $7.1-billion federal subsidy for carbon capture, utilization, and storage, the acronym “CCUS” only shows up once in the document. The details behind the economic statement are still taking shape, and they’ll be important to watch. But the overall lean in Freeland’s announcement signals that the transition is afoot, and the Trudeau government is sweating at least some of the details.