Alberta Agency Commits C$58mn to Emissions Reduction
Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), a collaborative group established by the provincial government, industry and academia, has awarded C$58.4mn (US$43.4mn) to 20 projects selected from 117 submissions to ERA’s Natural Gas Challenge.
The results of the challenge were announced by Alberta environment and parks minister Jason Nixon and Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity, as ERA opened July 21 a virtual workshop to help emissions reduction innovators maximise funding opportunities for their technologies.
“With abundant low-cost resources, a skilled workforce and world-class facilities across the province, Alberta is primed and ready to take our natural gas industry to the next level,” Nixon said. “Our partnership with Emissions Reduction Alberta will help us get there.”
Funding for the investment was sourced from carbon levies paid by large final emitters into Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (Tier) fund.
Matching funding under the challenge will leverage the C$58.4mn investment by ERA into a total of C$155mn for the projects, which cover a wide range of emission detection and reduction, hydrogen production and low-emission power generation technologies.
If successful, the projects will lead to cumulative GHG reductions of nearly 1mn mt of CO2-equivalent (mt CO2e) by 2030 – equivalent to the GHG emissions in one year from 750,000 passenger vehicles – and 2.5mn mt CO2e) by 2050. It is expected that the projects will also create 760 new jobs in Alberta.
“Working together, we will continue to find ways to reduce emissions while creating jobs and attracting investment,” Nally said. “Our government is proud to support the Natural Gas Challenge, which will strengthen our natural gas industry and tap into the global market.”
Since 2009, ERA has committed C$607mn in funds from industrial carbon pricing toward 183 projects worth C$4.1bn that are reducing emissions, keeping industries competitive, and leading to new investment opportunities. These projects are estimated to deliver cumulative emission reductions of 34.8mn mt CO2e by 2030.