(AlbertaIndex, July 10, Thursday) --- Under siege from environmentalists, oilsands-dependent Alberta has unveiled its strategy to combat climate change in the form of two $2 billion funds that it says will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equal to taking more than a million cars off the road each year. One fund will advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects while the other will boost the role of energy-saving public transit.

      The funds will come from this year’s surplus, which the province expects will be significantly larger than predicted due to higher-than-forecast oil and gas prices.

Premier Ed Stelmach said that while other jurisdictions talk, his government’s Climate Change Strategy has legislated real targets and real action.

He said: “We’re tackling both sides of the emissions challenge on behalf of Albertans and all Canadians. We’re reducing the impact of industrial emissions with carbon capture and storage and investing in public transit to reduce the impact from our tailpipes.

“With this announcement we will continue to demonstrate leadership and encourage the federal government and Alberta industries to make real investments in carbon capture and storage.”

Funds will be allocated to encourage construction of Alberta’s first large-scale CCS projects. The province has issued a request for expressions of interest to begin identifying those CCS proposals with the greatest potential of being built quickly and those which provide the best opportunities to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With the potential to reduce emissions at facilities such as coal-fired electricity plants and oil sands extraction sites and upgraders, the $2-billion fund will support CCS projects that are expected to reduce emissions by up to five million tonnes annually.  That is the equivalent of taking a million vehicles off the road, or one-third of all vehicles registered in the province, the government said.

In addition, the equivalent of thousands more Alberta vehicles will be taken off streets and highways through $2 billion in public transit investments.

The Green Transit Incentives Program (Green TRIP) will promote the use of local, regional and inter-city public transit.  The program will support new public transit alternatives throughout the province that will significantly reduce the number of vehicles on Alberta roads and reduce GHG emissions.

The government said its Climate Change Action Plan will cut projected GHG emissions in half by 2050 by tackling three key areas: carbon capture and storage, energy conservation and efficiency, and greening energy production.

In April, the government announced it had amended Alberta’s climate change legislation to set up a new fund to fast-track low-emission technology achieves the highest possible return on investment.

In 2007, the province committed to creating the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund - one of three compliance options large industrial emitters have to meet Alberta’s 12-per-cent emissions intensity reduction. Bill 8, the Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act, outlines how the fund will be managed.

Environment Minister Rob Renner then said the proposed amendment would allow his ministry to collect the money separate from general revenues and provide it as a yearly grant to an independent group that will invest it like a portfolio instead of in a piecemeal manner.

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