GOLDSTEIN: Technology, not taxes, best way to fight climate change

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Life comes at you fast when it comes to global energy issues.

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It comes so fast that Canada has already missed the boat on adding billions of dollars of economic growth to our economy every year, increasing global energy security and lowering global greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

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Both the European Union and the G-7 — of which Canada is a member — have embraced the use of liquid natural gas (LNG) to make up for shortages caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin shutting down exports to Europe,  as well as to lower global emissions by replacing coal-fired electricity with natural gas.

Natural gas burns at half the carbon intensity of coal and the use of coal to generate electricity is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The good news is Canada is the world’s 5th-largest producer and 6th-largest exporter of natural gas.

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The bad news is that almost all of it goes to the U.S. because we have no way of getting it from western Canada to tidewater and from there to global markets in Europe and Asia.

That means it has to be sold at huge discounts, costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars of economic growth every year.

Meanwhile, we’re led by a prime minister who keeps insisting that the global shortage of natural gas means Canada should convert to so-called “clean” energy, such as unreliable and intermittent wind and solar power, even faster, and who appears to believe all fossil fuels are dirty words.

At least that’s what Justin Trudeau is signalling to Canadians, as indicated by his recent lack of enthusiasm for shipping LNG directly from Canada to Europe, claiming he’s open to the idea but it’s not economically feasible because of a lack of infrastructure, as if Canada’s byzantine approval process for approving such infrastructure isn’t part of the problem.

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Strange, because Trudeau, representing Canada at the June meeting of G-7 countries — Canada, U.S., U.K. Germany, France, Italy and Japan — agreed with its official communique that:

“With a view to accelerating the phase out of our dependency on Russian energy, we stress the important role increased deliveries of LNG can play, and acknowledge that investment in this sector is necessary in response to the current crisis.”

The European Union in July went further, classifying natural gas (along with nuclear power) as a source of green energy when used to generate electricity instead of coal.

That’s hugely significant because it signals to global investors that government policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can include natural gas projects if used to replace coal, which today generates almost 40% of global electricity.

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In the real world, if governments are ever going to lower greenhouse gas emissions quickly and effectively without disastrous blackouts, natural gas has to be part of the solution.

That was what Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was talking about in his acceptance speech last week when he mentioned fighting climate change with “technology not taxes.”

Case in point? The U.S., which has never had a carbon tax, exceeded its 2020 target to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 17% below 2005 levels, in large part by replacing coal-fired electricity with natural gas obtained by fracking.

Canada, with the same target and a carbon tax — which Poilievre says he would scrap — missed it by a mile.

What Poilievre hasn’t yet explained is how he would do it.