The president and CEO of one of Canada’s biggest tar sands/oil sands companies is asking the Alberta government for a tougher price on carbon.
“Climate change is happening,” Suncor Energy’s Steve Williams told participants at an event in downtown Calgary, organized by Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. “Doing nothing is not an option we can choose.”
He added that “we’re trying to move Canada toward a position of leadership. That’s not how we’re viewed around the world at the moment. We’re viewed to be quite the opposite.”
In the week after Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party stormed to victory in a May 5 election, the hyperbole flew and analysts panicked at the thought of a more stringent tax regime for the province’s oil and gas sector. But some observers say a higher carbon price could actually help the industry, CP reports, by partly allaying international concerns.
Alberta’s $15-per-tonne levy on major greenhouse gas emitters that exceed a specific carbon intensity has been in place since 2007, and is due to expire at the end of June. Williams called the levy a “great start,” Krugel writes, but added that there’s “an opportunity to move on.” He advised against fast action, cautioning that “we could do an awful lot of damage over the next few months and years if we get this wrong.”
