QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
Oil and Gas Production and Net-Zero Emissions
March 3, 2022
Welcome to the Senate, minister. I am very pleased to see you leading this department, given your background.
That being said, because of what is happening in Ukraine, people are re-evaluating Russia as a reliable supplier of oil and gas. I agree with the comments recently made by the Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, when he said that the world needs more energy to come from liberal democracies. How can Canada successfully achieve its energy transition and target net-zero emissions by 2050, while also responding to this global demand to become a reliable producer? Thank you.
I thank the honourable senator for his question. I would like to refer you to the most recent report of the International Energy Agency, released at the end of 2021. It presents scenarios — you are very familiar with such things, Senator Gignac — that tell us that essentially, according to forecasts, global oil production will peak in 2028 and then drop 4% a year until 2050.
We currently live in a world where we produce about 90 million barrels of oil per day. In 2050, we will be producing only 25 million per day, so there will be a substantial decrease in both production and consumption. Why? We are electrifying our transportation and electricity generation sectors. We are working with businesses in the oil and gas, cement, aluminum and steel sectors to help them decarbonize and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This is happening in Canada and also in other parts of the world, like Europe, the U.S., South Korea, China and India. This idea that we will need more oil in the future goes against the scenario envisioned by global experts.
