The CRIN Pavilion was packed on Day 3 of COP29 for three Government of Alberta and Emissions Reduction Alberta events.
Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz moderated a panel discussion focused on Alberta’s leadership when it comes to methane emissions reduction.
“In Alberta, we set a methane emission reduction target of 35 per cent and that was since 2014,” Schulz said. “Just last year, we were able to announce that we surpassed our goals when it comes to methane emission reduction, three years ahead of schedule. And now we are beyond 52 per cent methane emissions reductions from upstream oil and gas since 2014 in the province of Alberta.”
The panel discussion featured Justin Riemer, CEO of Emissions Reduction Alberta, Scott Volk, Director of Emissions and Innovation with Tourmaline Oil, Stephane Germain, CEO of GHGSat, and John Adams, President and CEO of the NGIF Capital and NGIF Accelerator.
The conversation touched on themes like the importance of collaboration between industry, innovators, and post-secondary, looking at methane emissions reduction from a regulatory, policy, and incentives perspective, sharing Alberta’s lessons globally, and public-private partnerships.
“Alberta’s had a strong history, particularly in its energy sector, of being very entrepreneurial and innovative in solving problems,” said Riemer. “I think it’s through that culture and that approach and the government working collaboratively with the industry over multiple years to know that methane emissions were an issue for the sector. How could we work collectively together to help resolve that, with a mixture of regulatory goals and targets, as well as policies and technology incentives that could facilitate the de-risking and the deployment of some technologies.”
Adams noted how well Alberta embraces the idea that you don’t have to work in silos – you can team up to work together.