Edmonton is hosting leaders in the carbon capture and storage industry this week. About 5,000 people are expected to attend the national Carbon Capture Canada conference at the Edmonton Convention Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday. Alberta’s Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean, Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack and leaders from Explore Edmonton and Edmonton Global helped kick off the event Tuesday morning, speaking about the importance and potential of carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology. “CCS is truly playing a critical role to help our province reach emissions reduction targets while ensuring that oil, gas and value-added products like petrochemicals production increases,” Jean told Tuesday’s audience. “We want to be a model of what can be done if we put our minds to making our environment and our society a better place. In addition to meeting emission reduction targets, this technology will help us reach our goals of doubling oil and gas production by 2035.” He called Alberta a pioneer in the field due to its legislative framework, and said $2 billion has been invested in projects in the province. “This includes the Quest and Alberta carbon trunk line projects. They are real success stories, which have safely captured and stored more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since starting operations just over a decade ago. This is like taking four million cars off the road every single year,” Jean said. He and organizers said 2026 has been an interesting year for carbon capture and storage. “We’re moving from what was a July (memorandum of understanding) from the federal and Alberta governments to what execution looks like, and some major decisions are expected in the fall and beyond,” said David Ghoris, vice president at DMG Events, which is putting on the show. He pointed to Enhance Energy breaking ground on its Origins project, which is expected to permanently store up to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, north of Edmonton last week. “We’re hoping (attendees) take away what’s actually happening in Canada. We’d like to see those internationals really see what Canada has to offer in terms of the carbon capture space, how investable we are in this country,” Ghoris added. On Thursday, attendees will tour the Deep Sky Alpha facility near Innisfail. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton
