Canada pushes out target for net-zero electricity grid by 15 years

Power transmission lines and wind turbines as seen with the Rocky Mountains in the background near Pincher Creek, Alta., Thursday, June 6, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press)

Canada unveiled finalized Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) on Tuesday that aim to create a net-zero electricity grid by 2050, abandoning its previous target of having an emissions-neutral grid by 2035.

Ottawa dialed back its original target after feedback from some provinces and energy industry participants, who said the draft CER regulations would make electricity supply in Canada less reliable and more expensive and risked creating stranded assets, government officials said in a briefing.

Canada already has a relatively clean grid, generating 85 per cent of its electricity from sources like hydropower, wind and solar, but the less ambitious regulations mean it will be harder for the country to meet its 2035 climate target of cutting carbon emissions 45–50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035.

"I wouldn't say we've backed off the ambition in terms of decarbonization of the grid, but we have learned through consultation that there was a need for some more flexibility," Canada's Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told Reuters in an interview.

"It can't just be about reducing emissions, it has to be done in a manner that results in a reliable grid in all provinces and is affordable for ratepayers."

The finalized regulations will cut nearly 181 megatonnes of cumulative carbon emissions from the grid between 2024 and 2050, while the draft regulations had aimed to cut 342 megatonnes by the middle of this century.

A previous target of limiting emissions from any power-producing unit to 30 tonnes of carbon per gigawatt hour has been changed to a higher limit of 65 tonnes per gigawatt hour.

Co-generation facilities that produce electricity that does not feed into the grid, such as those operated by some oil sands companies in northern Alberta, will not be subject to the CER.

Canada's main oil and gas-producing province Alberta was firmly opposed to the draft CER, warning the new rules would endanger grid reliability.

(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; Editing by Paul Simao)