NorthAmOil: Alberta reportedly planning to toughen oil sands emissions standards

The provincial government of Alberta is reportedly planning to toughen its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for oil sands mines. The move would close a loophole that allowed some of the highest-emissions facilities to claim millions of dollars’ worth of tradeable credits.
Alberta is in the process of updating industry benchmarks that set emissions reduction requirements for mines and upgraders. The province has already increased the stringency of facility-based benchmarks.
The move was reported by Reuters, and the Alberta Ministry of Environment confirmed it to the news service this week. Two sources with knowledge of the changes were cited as saying Alberta's emissions system, known as the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation (TIER), had not been intended to provide credits to oil sands mines.
Mines and upgraders collectively generated 2.4mn emissions performance credits in 2020 and were required to pay for 700,000. The remaining 1.7mn of credits are estimated to have been worth around CAD54.4mn ($42.7mn). That was the first year of a new emissions regulatory system introduced by the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP), which took power in Alberta in 2019.
The planned changes mean that the operators of oil sands mines will no longer be able to benefit financially from their emissions when they account for their 2021 performance, according to Reuters’ sources.