2022-01-19
Dear [Chrystia Freeland] Deputy Prime Minister [of Canada],
As scientists, academics, and energy system modellers, we are deeply concerned with the government’s proposal to introduce a new investment tax credit for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
We urge you to not introduce the proposed investment tax credit for CCUS because it will constitute a substantial new fossil fuel subsidy. As well as undermining government efforts to reach net-zero by 2050, the introduction of this tax credit would contradict the promise made by your government to Canadians during the election period to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies by 2023, as well as our international commitments under the Paris Agreement. And [sic] once new subsidies are put in place, they are very hard to repeal.
[more]
Deploying CCUS at any climate-relevant scale, carried out within the short timeframe we have to avert climate catastrophe without posing substantial risks to communities on the frontlines of the buildout, is a pipe dream. We must instead move forward with proven climate solutions that will contribute the most to emissions reductions: increased electrification, wide-scale use of
renewable energy, and intensifying energy efficiency.
[Signatories include some who have made presentations in CACOR’s Zoom program: Bill Rees, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Adam Fenech, Meg Sears, and Ryan Katz-Rosene. Apologies to anyone I missed.]
Link to | Scientists Letter to the Federal Government on CCUS