Canada Methane Cuts Spur Global Action to Address a Major Climate Threat

(Washington, DC) The Canadian Government today issued regulations to cut oil and gas methane emissions 40-45 per cent, making Canada the first country to limit methane at both new and existing facilities nationwide. The new rules deliver on a critical element of Canada’s climate plan and place it among leading state and federal governments in North America that are controlling these emissions as a way to achieve their energy goals.

“Canada’s new regulations are a sign of international climate leadership and further evidence that global momentum is building to reduce this powerful pollutant. Methane emissions are an urgent climate problem with a clear solution. There are many low-cost, simple fixes that can deliver meaningful and immediate reductions today from the oil and gas industry in Canada and around the world.”

“This big step forward could be erased, if these federal methane regulations are replaced by weaker provincial action. The national government must now ensure that any provincial rules achieve equal or greater reductions.”

—Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund

Canada’s methane regulations deliver on Prime Minister Trudeau’s pledge, made in trilateral accord with the United States and Mexico in 2016, to decrease 40 to 45 per cent of oil and gas industry methane emissions by 2025 across the continent.

Methane is a fast-acting climate pollutant, a driver of local air pollution, and a valuable product when recovered as natural gas. The oil and gas industry is the largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta, yet multiple scientific studies show that the oil and gas industry is significantly underreporting the scale of its methane emissions, estimated to be equal to $530 million dollars (CAD) of wasted natural gas Canada-wide each year.