Enbridge Inc. hopes to see extra incentives for carbon seize and storage introduced within the upcoming federal price range, the CEO of the vitality infrastructure big mentioned Wednesday.
After the corporate’s annual Investor Day occasion, Greg Ebel instructed reporters that the US is at the moment a extra enticing place for carbon seize funding. That nation’s sweeping Inflation Discount Act, handed by President Joe Biden final yr, gives incentives each on the capital price aspect and for ongoing working prices, Ebel mentioned.
“Whether or not folks prefer it or not, you are actually competing towards the IRA. They usually’ve actually put a number of roots on the desk by way of selling folks to take a position there,” Ebel mentioned, including that Canada’s oil and fuel sector prompted Ottawa to extend its personal assist for the emissions-reduction know-how to spur funding within the house.
Learn extra:
New Enbridge CEO says Canada is lacking alternatives because the world cries out for vitality
“Clearly, slightly extra incentive (in Canada) to scale back capital prices and working prices and due to this fact the dangers of those initiatives? I feel that is going to be very effectively acquired by the business.”
Canada’s vitality business has recognized carbon seize and storage as key to its plan to scale back greenhouse fuel emissions. Firms have proposed about 25 completely different initiatives aimed toward capturing carbon from Alberta’s oil and fuel sector — certainly one of which is Enbridge’s personal open-access Wabamun Carbon Hub, positioned northwest of Edmonton.
Nonetheless, Enbridge, like most firms, has not dedicated to transferring ahead with this undertaking. Regardless of its potential, the deployment of carbon seize in Canada stays restricted, with simply seven initiatives at the moment working throughout the nation.
Environmentalists have criticized the vitality sector for not transferring quick sufficient, particularly given the report income many firms earned final yr as a consequence of rising oil costs.
However Ebel mentioned that whereas he’s assured that carbon seize initiatives will likely be constructed, it takes time to get all of the items in place.
“You see how lengthy it takes to construct a pipeline undertaking or just about any form of infrastructure undertaking today — I do not assume CCS is any completely different,” he mentioned.
Learn extra:
Oil and fuel funding in Canada to achieve $40 billion in 2023, business group says
Final yr, the Canadian federal authorities introduced the creation of an funding tax credit score aimed toward incentivizing the event of carbon seize initiatives.
However a BMO report revealed final August mentioned the Inflation Discount Act south of the border ensures that about two-thirds of carbon seize undertaking prices (capital and working prices) are coated by the US authorities.
By comparability, the report says, the investor tax credit score introduced by the Canadian federal authorities in 2022 will cowl lower than 15 % of the entire price by 2050 of the carbon seize undertaking being constructed by the Pathways Alliance, a consortium of Canadian oil sands firms.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
