Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Business Council of Canada (BCA) engages on climate policy with a mix of positive and negative positions. The organization appears unsupportive of most climate regulations in Canada and advocates for fossil gas expansion.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: BCA holds positive and negative top-line positions on climate policy. BCA supported Canada’s 2050 net-zero GHG emissions target in a November 2023 letter to the federal Minister of Environment. However, BCA’s support for Canada's climate targets appears to be contingent on government support for 'low-carbon solutions' which overwhelmingly relies on fossil gas investments, as stated in a March 2023 report. In this report, the group appeared unsupportive of climate regulations, advocating for market-based incentives over “prescriptive regulations.” BCA supported the goals of the Paris Agreement in a May 2023 blog post.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: BCA engages negatively on climate-related regulations in Canada. In a March 2024 joint industry letter to Canada’s Minister of Environment, BCA advocated for the withdrawal of the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap, which seeks to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector. In a similar letter sent to Environmental Protection Branch in February 2024, BCA claimed that the Emissions Cap is "unnecessary", and that it will lead to "duplicative and redundant regulation." The group also does not support Canada’s Clean Electricity Regulations that seek to decarbonize the electricity grid, citing “an overly prescriptive approach", as stated in a March 2023 report. Instead, BCA advocated for a "technology-neutral" set of investment tax credits to incentivize the decarbonization of the electricity sector. In this report, the group also appeared unsupportive of the Clean Fuel Regulations, which require liquid fossil fuel suppliers to gradually reduce the carbon emissions to 2016 levels.
Positioning on Energy Transition: BCA partially supports the energy transition: the group advocates for a transition to electric vehicles (EVs), however, it calls for fossil fuel expansion in Canada. In the Federal Lobbyist Registry filing in December 2024, BCA advocated for incentivizing the production of EVs and critical minerals in Canada.
BCA’s support for energy transition appears to predicated on a technology-led transition that focuses on decarbonizing the fossil fuel sector through government incentives, rather than a transition to a renewables-based energy mix. For instance, in a March 2024 joint industry letter to Canada’s Minister of Environment, BCA advocated for an ongoing role for oil and gas, claiming reduction in oil and gas emissions through voluntary industry action. Similarly, in December 2024 Federal Lobbyist Registry filing, BCA advocated for policies for Canadian companies to “take advantage of the economic opportunities related to low-carbon energy sources and innovative, climate-smart technologies”, without clarifying the intended energy sources and technologies. In another letter to the Minister of Environment in November 2023, BCA called for increased fossil gas production in Canada, claiming that it can “reduce global emissions.”
This summary was last updated in Q1 2025.