Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) appears to have broadly negative positions on most forms of climate policy. While CAPP has acknowledged the need for climate action, its policy advocacy appears to weaken aspects of ambitious climate regulations at the federal level in Canada. CAPP continues to strongly advocate in favor of oil and gas and undertakes direct advocacy for incentives, including infrastructure lock-in, for the oil and gas industry. (See note below on CAPP’s response to Canada’s Competition Act Amendments and how it impacts this assessment).
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CAPP appears to have a broadly negative top-line positioning on climate action, with positive position on some issues. Its recent website communications, accessed in April 2024 casts uncertainty on the science of climate change, stating that greenhouse gases (GHG) “can” contribute to climate change. This contrasts with its 2021 position which clearly linked GHGs to climate change. CAPP has stated support for the goals of the Paris Agreement and net-zero on the website, accessed in 2024, although it has not specified a date for the net-zero goal. CAPP remains unsupportive of government regulation of climate change: a letter to Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault in February 2024 appeared to advocate for government investment and financial incentives to respond to climate change at the expense of stringent regulations.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: CAPP maintains an active and oppositional stance on most climate regulations in Canada. The group’s comments on Clean Electricity Regulations that sets an emissions standard for electricity generation opposed the proposal, stating that it creates “unnecessary complexity” and advocated for longer timelines than the proposed 2035 timeframe. CAPP also opposed the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap in a letter to Minister Guilbeault in February 2024, and sent a joint industry letter to the minister in March 2024 advocating for the withdrawal of the Cap. It also opposed the methane regulation for the upstream oil and gas sector in comments submitted to the government in February 2024.
Positioning on Energy Transition: CAPP actively advocates for increasing oil and gas in the energy mix. According to the group’s April 2024 filing at the Alberta Lobbyist Registry, it advocated for growth and investment in the oil and gas industry and called for the expansion of Trans Mountain oil pipeline. The group’s communications often portray Canadian fossil fuels as ‘cleaner’ and that it could help in lowering global emissions. In the website, accessed in April 2023, CAPP claimed that Canadian LNG can “play a major role in the global fight against climate change.” CAPP President, Lisa Baiton claimed in a press release in August 2023 that Canada’s “track record of lowering emissions while growing production is a demonstration of why Canadian oil and natural gas should be the barrels of choice for the world’s energy needs”.
CAPP also opposes measures to decarbonize the energy mix. Its response to the Clean Electricity Regulations in November 2023 advocated for a longer role for oil and gas-fired power generation and states that regulations should consider the long-term role for fossil gas in the electricity mix.
CAPP’s support for the energy transition appears to be predicated on government support for technology-led solutions for decarbonization, mainly carbon capture and storage (CCS) and its support for CCS applications is often accompanied by calls for maintaining fossil fuel production. For example, in June 2023, CAPP’s submission to a federal government committee advocated for expanded financial incentives and government investment through the CCUS Investment Tax Credit for the oil sector as a justification to continue to fossil fuel production.
Note: As of June 2024, CAPP has withdrawn parts of the website that communicated about climate change. A statement on the website attributes this to the “ambiguity” from Competition Act Amendments in Canada. Therefore, any InfluenceMap assessment of evidence taken from the CAPP’s website or social media communications assessed in this profile should be considered as a reflection of the entity’s climate policy positions up to June 2024 only. InfluenceMap will continue to produce assessments of CAPP’s climate policy engagement using other data sources outlined in our methodology.