The David Suzuki Foundation is accusing backers of Canadian LNG of “greenwashing” at a major international conference in Vancouver this week, where Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is the keynote speaker..Members of the environment group joined protesters from Frack Free BC to stage a ‘die-in’ at the Vancouver Convention Centre at the opening of the conference to urge the BC government “to stop LNG expansion and instead focus on the transition to a healthy, affordable and safe renewable energy future.”.Foundation executive director Severn Cullis-Suzuki called the conference “out of touch with reality.”.Instead, the group is taking out a digital marketing campaign with ads on billboards and transit buses through July..“We’re at a dangerous juncture in British Columbia. It’s madness to entertain proposals for fossil fuel expansion. New LNG facilities have no place in a climate-safe future,” he said in a statement. “The claim that fracking methane gas is ‘natural’ or ‘clean’ is misleading and dangerous. Our marketing campaign pushes back on the LNG greenwashing we’re seeing across BC.”.It comes as Premiers Smith and BC’s David Eby confirmed their respective provinces are in talks to expand the reach of Canadian LNG to global markets by leveraging Article 6 of the Paris Accord. The clause allows Canada to claim emissions credits for helping other countries reduce their own emissions — by displacing coal, for instance — abroad..“I feel like this is an integral part of a global strategy for emissions reduction, and I think that Alberta has an obligation as the owner of the resource in our province to take a lead making sure we build that consensus,” Smith told delegates..Canada is set to begin gas exports in 2025 when the $40-billion LNG Canada project at Kitimat comes on stream..Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. last week announced off take agreements for the smaller Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish that is expected to come online in 2027..Enbridge said it is David Suzuki and his ilk that are “out of touch” on the issue, especially when they claim “exporting Canadian LNG will make climate change worse since it will lock out investments in renewables… no further expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure is compatible with a climate-safe future.” .That’s contrary the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which admits that gas power produces 50% less emissions than coal, even when methane emissions are factored in..“Taking into account revised estimates for fugitive methane emissions, recent lifecycle assessments indicate that specific GHG emissions are reduced by one half (on a per-kWh basis) when shifting from the current world-average coal-fired power plant to a modern natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plant,” the IPCC’s latest report says in its energy systems chapter..Even in Europe, the EU earlier this month voted to retain specific uses of natural gas for heating and cooling in its definition of sustainable energy sources..Europe’s ‘taxonomy’ refers to the bloc’s classification system of “environmentally sustainable economic activities” for investors, policy makers and companies..It comes with the caveat that they will still have to be below certain emissions thresholds — to replace coal — that will be reviewed after 2030 and 2035, depending on the specific application. Even the German Green Party is on board with it..Still, it comes as Canada’s Energy Regulator last month called for a 68% reduction in domestic natural gas production if the country is to meet net zero targets by 2050..During a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau questioned the long-term business case for Canadian LNG..“In the medium-term and long-term, Canada can and will position itself to be a key supplier of energy to the world in a net-zero economy… and explore ways to see if it makes sense to export LNG and if there's a business case for it.”
