Canada to be cleanest LNG producer, Carr says

OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says Canada’s pathway to a clean energy future includes not only transitioning to renewable sources of energy but also technology that makes traditional fossil fuels cleaner to produce and burn.

That path was laid out Thursday in a new report which points not only to developing more wind and solar power, but also to the environmental and economic benefits of Canada producing, shipping and burning oil and natural gas that is cleaner and more cost efficient.

The two-track approach is the main advice in the report from Carr’s “generation energy” advisory council, a group of 14 people from the energy sector, indigenous communities and environmental groups.

“What this report understands is that oil and gas will be part of the energy mix for quite a while and the goal is to extract those resources more sustainably than ever,” said Carr.

“We are on the road to accomplishing that.”

He said Canada’s long-term goal is to become the world’s cleanest producer of liquefied natural gas, which can then displace dirtier sources of electricity around the world, particularly coal in Asia.

Carr said the report’s advice is closely aligned with a recent consensus reached by G20 energy ministers on how to move the world off the dirtiest sources of energy and will form the basis of Canada’s national energy strategy which will be developed more fully in August during a federalprovincial energy ministers meeting.

Greenpeace Canada, however, is concerned that the report was developed largely by the fossil fuel industry and is not going to move the needle away from oil and gas very much.