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Shell Canada will plant more than 800,000 trees within British Columbia next year, a project the company hopes will create valuable carbon offsets in the future.
Shell is one of the companies pushing the federal government to create a national greenhouse gas compensation program, which Ottawa announced last year with no specific timeline for when it might begin.
Carbon offsets allow companies and individuals to invest in environmental projects in order to balance their greenhouse gas emissions.
Increasingly, energy companies are setting climate targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. While companies expect technological innovation to play an important role in achieving those goals, in addition to sequestering emissions underground, the buying offsets is one way to make sure there is at least one path to achieving ambitious environmental goals. While innovation is likely to happen, the technology being developed may not turn out to be as effective as hoped.
CLOCK: Why Shell Spends Money on Planting Trees:
Shell will provide funding for a BC Interior reforestation project in partnership with Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation, a Tsilhqot’in forestry company, to plant 840,000 indigenous trees. 1:59
The federal government has spent the last few years developing a national greenhouse gas compensation system. Environment and climate change Canada is aiming for 2021 to complete the first federal compensation protocols. The Federal Environment Minister’s office did not respond to an interview request.
Carbon offsets are no silver bullet for the greenhouse gas problem, but some companies and environmentalists see it as a tool for tackling climate change.
Reforestation in the area affected by fires
The Shell project will plant trees in an area of BC that was devastated by fires in 2017. The reforestation is a partnership with Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation, a forestry company in Tsilhqot’in, to plant 840,000 indigenous trees.
“Sooner or later people will realize they have to start doing business in a different way,” chief Joe Alphonse, tribal president of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, said in an interview.
“We hope it becomes a role model for other First Nations and companies to follow,” he said.
The cost of the two-year tree planting project is not released. According to the nonprofit Tree Canada, about 500 life-size trees are needed to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by a typical car driven 20,000km per year.
There are many other opportunities across the country to combat climate change, according to Shell.
“What we’re looking for from the federal government and provincial governments are protocols to set the rules of the game on how these types of investments could be used as ways to offset emissions in other parts of the economy,” Michael Crothers said. the head of Shell Canada.
“This takes a lot of science, it has to be rigorous, it has to be validated by third parties.”
There are many different ways to produce carbon offsets, including building renewable energy projects; capture methane gas from landfills; and some agricultural practices such as zero processing.
Farmers also use carbon offsetting
Alberta has had its own carbon offset program since 2007, which has involved many sectors, including agriculture.
Initially, there were concerns as some farmers were raising substantial sums of money without making any changes to their operations. With the development of technology, it is becoming easier to verify what actions a farmer has taken to improve the environment.
“Carbon is a cost to a farmer,” said Nutrien CEO Chuck Magro, pointing to carbon taxes and fuel taxes.
The Calgary-based international fertilizer company is among the companies that have developed digital data tools to monitor the amount of carbon emitted by individual farms and how much is absorbed from the air in crops and soil.
“Tools to help farmers truly understand their fingerprint, their environmental footprint, and then hopefully we will be able to transfer them to be able to get them paid to sequester carbon while producing healthy, bumper crops.”
An Iowa farmer expects to collect a check for US $ 290,000 for the carbon he has seized over a five-year period. The credits were bought by Ottawa-based e-commerce giant Shopify through a carbon credit marketplace run by Seattle-based Nori LLC.
Shopify buys carbon credits to offset its emissions.
Carbon offsetting systems have come under criticism in the past, including overestimates of the amount of carbon removal and the effectiveness of some activities, such as tree planting.
Favorable environmental groups
A group of eight environmental organizations are supporting the creation of a national carbon offsetting program, including the David Suzuki Foundation and Environmental Defense.
As part of their joint submission to the government, the groups said a federal program will help ensure national consistency and fungibility.
“Carbon offsets may have a legitimate role to play in providing compliance flexibility,” the organizations wrote in the mailing. “However, we would like to reinforce that offsets are not a way to avoid direct reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including activities that cause emissions due to the loss and degradation of ecosystems.”
Husky Energy has bought and sold credits under Alberta’s carbon offsetting program, but the company wants the federal government to introduce a national system so that it has the ability to offset emissions in its operations in different parts of the country where no compensation schemes currently exist.
CLOCK: Why Husky wants a National Carbon Offset Program:
Janet Annesley of Husky Energy explains how offsets can help companies meet climate goals. 1:47
The company points to its West Wild Rose oil project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador as an example of a facility that could have net zero emissions. Husky plans to use the technology to ensure that the plant produces oil with emissions 50% lower than the average barrel of crude produced in the country.
If Husky were able to purchase offsets at a reasonable price, officials say it could be a net zero facility.
“The only way corporations and, in fact, the government of Canada will achieve its net zero goals is by unlocking and unlocking the power of resources throughout our economy. We need to be able to invest in one area. and incentivize emissions reductions in another area that crucially includes beyond provincial borders, ”said Janet Annesley, Husky’s senior vice president of corporate affairs and human resources.
Achieving net zero targets on a project, he said, would send a message to investors and governments that the industry takes climate change seriously.
“We need to unlock the power to work together, otherwise we will fail together,” Annesley said.
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