Path to Carbon Neutral – Canadian Accomplishments and Future Initiatives

Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada hosted a fascinating panel discussion in the CRIN Pavilion on Day 5 of COP29, focused on The Path to Carbon Neutral – Canadian Accomplishments and Future Initiatives.

Moderated by Marc Godin, Director of Technology for PTAC, this conversation featured Rebecca Schulz, Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, Justin Riemer, CEO of Emissions Reduction Alberta, Kendall Dilling, President of Pathways Alliance, and John Adams, President and CEO of NGIF Capital.

The discussion covered topics including progress on methane emission reductions in Alberta, carbon capture and storage, reducing emissions while growing the economy, the emissions testing centre, and the diversity of innovation present in Alberta.

Riemer said the province has done a masterful job in seeing the implementation of some very significant CCS projects. But it's also being done on a small scale. For example, an interesting and relatively inexpensive process that ERA helped to demonstrate and fund was the capture of CO2 from craft beer manufacturing at Blindman Brewing.

"There's a variety of different applications, both small and large, and one of the great things at ERA when we're working with the ecosystem...is we get to support both smaller innovators, the SMEs, as well as the large industrials," said Riemer. "And often the magic happens when you bridge the two. You see a smaller innovator with an amazing innovation that has solved the need for a larger industrial firm. And we're seeing more and more of those kinds of applications making demonstrable progress in terms of emission reduction."

Looking into the future, Schulz said Alberta wants to see various new technologies find a place to grow and thrive in Alberta, such as hydrogen, expansion of CCS, and geothermal.

"We're pretty excited about where the future is headed," she said. "Affordability also matters...there has definitely been a shift from last year to this year at COP around practicality, and so we always say that we're going to move forward as fast as technology and economics allow. We've got to be practical but we still want to be bold and creative."