Natural gas will not lead Canada to a sustainable energy future
The Canadian government has used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the removal of Russian natural gas exports to justify increasing natural gas production in Canada. Much of the necessary infrastructure for producing and transporting this liquefied natural gas (LNG) would, however, take years to develop, locking Canada into an emissions pathway that is incompatible with 1.5 C climate target. The fossil fuel industry has begun referring to natural gas as a “bridge fuel” or an essential part of a low-carbon energy transition. Climate researchers stress that natural gas bridges can often lead to nowhere. Reliance on natural gas can lock countries into fossil fuels, crowd out low-carbon technologies and risk stranding assets - assets like coal mines and hydrocarbon reserves that drop in value as a result of energy transitions. The life-cycle of methane emissions - the emissions from production to consumption - from natural gas could actually result in higher life cycle emissions overall.