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TORONTO \u2014 Rachel Doran, executive director at Clean Energy Canada, made the following statement in response to the <\/em>Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding<\/em><\/a> regarding a new energy deal: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday\u2019s MOU with Alberta will require the federal government to negotiate firmly in the months ahead. Canada must work diligently to ensure it is not trading future climate promises that, as history suggests, could be reneged on in exchange for higher<\/a> oil- and gas-related emissions today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrime Minister Carney\u2019s government risks trading certainty for expediency as it puts regulations with hard pollution limits\u2014in this case, the Clean Electricity Regulations, oil and gas emissions cap, and methane regulations\u2014on the negotiating table with provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlberta had already agreed to increase its industrial carbon price by the terms of its last negotiation with Canada in 2018 in exchange for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, so while today\u2019s agreement does have some potential for good negotiated outcomes, it risks fundamentally undermining the durability of key federal regulations. If one province can be granted an exemption, any province can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCanadians should ensure that Prime Minister Carney holds firm on his statement that private proponents will shoulder the cost of any future pipeline in Canada. Going forward, the world will be using<\/a> less and less oil after 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Canada should therefore be putting public dollars toward the industries that will be growing, rather than those set to shrink. Globally, investment in clean energy has accelerated, and spending on renewable power, grids, and storage is now higher than total spending on oil, gas, and coal. The world now invests twice as much<\/a> in clean energy as it does in fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were, however, cautiously optimistic to see potential in a number of key climate commitments integrated as part of this deal and the near-term timelines on which these need to come into effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlberta\u2019s pledge to increase its industrial carbon price to $130\/tonne could be a meaningful one, as that price would be higher than the federal backstop price currently scheduled to kick in next year ($110\/tonne), but only if Alberta also works in good faith to address issues around stringency and helps ensure the market price of credits also rises. This also needs to be supported by the even bigger opportunity that a more unified industrial carbon market across Canada represents, something the federal government has promised to explore, and one that Alberta has an opportunity to lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGiven the importance of clean electricity to Canada\u2019s economic future and the risk of setting a dangerous precedent where provinces can opt out of Canada\u2019s climate regulations as they please, any deal related to the implementation of Canada\u2019s clean electricity regulations in Alberta must be in the form of an equivalency agreement and not a provincial carveout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe electricity-infrastructure-related elements of today\u2019s energy deal could also be significant if done right. Transmission interties from B.C. to Saskatchewan and a commitment to building thousands more megawatts of power could be the nation-building project Canadians have been waiting for, simultaneously building on Canada\u2019s clean energy advantage, enhancing energy security, and lowering energy bills for Canadian households. But these new megawatts must be clean, leveraging the complementary renewables strengths and lowest-cost power sources that are already being deployed in B.C. and Alberta today\u2014hydro, solar, and wind plus battery storage\u2014as opposed to waiting on a future nuclear strategy that might add higher-cost power resources someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIndeed, Alberta would also benefit, perhaps even disproportionately, from doubling down on a clean energy future. Modelling<\/a> has shown that Alberta\u2019s clean energy sector would be the fastest growing of any province or territory in Canada, with jobs increasing 10% every year in a net-zero future. And until recently, Alberta led Canada and much of North America in attracting renewable investment. But as a result of a moratorium and new restrictive regulations on renewables, the province has fallen to the bottom of the list<\/a> in Canada on clean energy procurements, losing out on some 11 gigawatts of clean power<\/a> (an amount that exceeds Alberta\u2019s average total power demand) and tens of millions<\/a> in community tax revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs negotiations on the implementation details of this MOU proceed in the coming months, Canada must keep both history and the future in mind. That means learning lessons from our past while aligning Canada with where the world is headed. It means shaping Canada into a lasting<\/em> energy superpower, not just putting out the political fires of today.\u201d<\/p>\n