Mon. Dec 4th, 2023

Ottawa is expected to announce subsidies for carbon capture

Open in full screen mode

Compared to the United States, Canada lags behind in supply financial incentives for technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Radio-Canada

Feature being tested

Log inCreate my account

Voice synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, allows you to generate text spoken from a written text.

The federal government will introduce legislation this month to provide grants for carbon capture and carbon neutral projects, part of a plan worth about $20 billion over five years , according to an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Industry lobbies said in September that investments worth more than $50 billion were at risk if the Canadian government did not act quickly. They denounce the delay in state support for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects as well as equipment used to produce low-carbon energy.

The source adds that Canada's Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, will make the investment tax credit funding announcement when it presents its Fall Economic Statement (FES) on Tuesday.

Labor provisions related to most investment tax credits will also be presented. They require investors to pay workers the prevailing union wage and provide apprenticeship opportunities in order to receive the maximum subsidy.

Previous budget documents estimated that all five investment tax credit programs together would raise about $27 billion over their first five years of operation.

Compared to the United States, Canada lags behind when it comes to providing financial incentives in new technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Washington is providing financial incentives to clean energy companies due to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in August 2022. More than US$430 billion has been invested in the IRA.

American President Joe Biden considers it to be an economic engine. Bank of America estimates this has already spurred $132 billion in investment through more than 270 new clean energy projects.

The source maintains that there is a global race for capital and investment in this type of project and that the government is trying to provide certainty to investors.

Canada is the world's fourth largest oil producer.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology is seen as essential to reducing emissions from Alberta’s oil and gas companies without reducing their production. The investment tax credit is central to helping the government achieve its net zero emissions targets by 2050.

The CCUS was announced in 2021 and the clean technology investment tax credits were announced a year later, both before the IRA was launched. However, Canada is only now beginning to put in place the legislation needed to move the money.

Chrystia Freeland will also announce a timeline for other credits promised investment tax as well as a public consultation for two of the three remaining programs which begin this year, says the source who is not authorized to speak officially.

She adds that the minister will also announce legislation for all of these programs by the end of next year.

According to this same source, the government will announce investment tax credits for the machinery and tools necessary to build green technologies and to produce hydrogen in spring 2024.

With information from Reuters

admin

By admin

Related Post