Canada's COP26 Summit Promises

COP 26 conference is the first major test for the 2015 Paris Agreement. This agreement was made to limit the rise in global average temperature to well below 2C and pursue efforts to not exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

P.M Trudeau has made some promises at the conference.

He has announced that Canada will impose a hard cap on emissions from the oil and gas sectors.

"We'll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net-zero by 2050."

According to some experts, cutting on emissions will not be enough to stop and meet the net-zero goal by 2050. “Without production cuts, even if extraction is made greener, oil and gas would just be burned somewhere else.”

In 2019, Canada's oil and gas sector accounted for 191 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions — 26 per cent of the country's total emissions. The country's second largest source of emissions is the transport sector, which emitted 186 megatons.

Canada's carbon price started in 2019 at $20 a ton and is set to rise to $170 a ton by 2030. The current price of $40 a ton adds about 8.8 cents a liter to gasoline, or about $3.50 more every time you fill your car with 40 liters of gasoline.

The major takeaway here is that oil and gas prices will rise at a rate that will leave many people looking for alternatives.

Demand for clean renewable energy sources will increase and many will turn solar and/or Wind Energy, which is the fastest growing clean energy source globally and in Canada. Microgeneration home wind turbines will become very popular as they can be used to offset grid electricity to heat and power homes.

Nonetheless a switch to clean renewable energy sources is inevitable as global warming is becoming more and more of an issue. A decline in production of oil and gas and price increases are expected meaning many homeowners will be looking for alternatives.