Oil and gas CEOs to testify before House of Commons environment committee

Executives of some of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies are expected to testify before a parliamentary committee Thursday afternoon about their efforts to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.

CEOs and senior executives from Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE-T, Enbridge Inc. ENB-T, Imperial Oil Ltd. IMO-T, Shell Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T are slated to appear by videoconference before the House of Commons standing committee on environment and sustainable development.

Their appearance follows an April motion by NDP environment critic Laurel Collins, who called on the executives to appear before the committee to explain their companies’ impact on climate change.

The oil and gas sector is Canada’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for almost a third of the country’s total emissions, and they continue to rise, largely because of increased production from Alberta’s oil sands.

The federal government has proposed a legislated cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector, something the industry opposes.

Major oil sands companies have committed to getting to net-zero emissions by 2050, but have not yet made a final investment decision on their proposed emissions-reducing carbon capture and storage project.