Press Release

2025-05-29

Newly minted Prime Minister Carney promises to make Canada an energy superpower; a new Friends of Science Society report raises questions about that goal versus Canada’s tangled web of legislation which commit it to Net Zero.

(Calgary, Alberta) During the recent Canadian election campaign, Mark Carney promised to make Canada an energy superpower. A new report titled “Energy Superpower vs Net Zero? Don’t Jump!” issued by Friends of Science Society questions how this is possible when layers of Net Zero legislation instituted by many of the same ministers from the previous Liberal government are in the way.  The report was authored by Robert Lyman, a retired energy economist who for 27 years served in the Canadian government as an advisor and manager on energy, environment and transportation issues and has written extensively on these issues since that time.

Lyman’s report addresses issues related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), the proposed east-west power grid, proposed pre-approved energy corridors, and “first and last mile” funding, for “ensuring our critical minerals get to market with the associated value-added processing.”

Tim Hodgson, Canada’s new Minister of Natural Resources, delivered an address to the Calgary Chamber on May 23, 2025, titled: “Canada Strong: Building the Future of Energy,” in which he argued it was time to build and to find new allies in the world who share Canada’s values.

Hodgson referenced the massive, proposed Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture and Underground Storage (CCUS) project several times in his speech as the key to Canada’s oil and gas sector.

It seems Minister Hodgson sees the Pathways project as a potential game changer in terms of accessing new global markets for Canadian oil and gas, though Prime Minister Carney and Minister Hodgson claim any new pipelines could only be done by ‘consensus’ within Canada.  Lyman’s “Energy Superpower vs Net Zero?” report shows that layers of government Net Zero legislation would remain a barrier to pipelines, or virtually any mining or resource development, no matter the “consensus.”

Though Prime Minister Carney has promoted a closer alliance with the EU, Albertans will not soon forget the years battling the EU Fuel Quality Directive which labelled oil sands oil as ‘dirty’ and unwelcome.  This was during a time when Russia was the main supplier of oil and gas to the EU.

In 2015, as reported by the Financial Post, Canada cleared that EU fuel quality barrier and anticipated building out pipeline access to global markets with Northern Gateway, Trans Mountain Expansion, Keystone XL, and Energy East pipelines, all of which were successfully derailed by the Tar Sands Campaign.

While CCS/CCUS is often touted as the solution to Net Zero targets, Robert Lyman’s 2021 report “Speed Bumps on the Road to Net Zero,”  which summarized a JP Morgan report by analyst Michael Cembalist, showed that CCUS had more academic papers written about it, than actual projects in operation.

In “Getting to Net Zero in Canada,” an analysis of Canada Energy Regulator (CER) and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reports by Friends of Science Society director Ian Cameron showed “To offset the relatively large proportion of fossil fuels in 2050 end-use energy demand, the CER over-relied on CCUS (33 to 38-fold increase), and a thousand-fold increase in direct air capture.”

Robert Lyman has long argued that Carbon Capture and Storage is a trap – for taxpayers – one which politicians, banks and investors naively see as a magic bullet for Net Zero.

World acknowledged energy expert, Prof. Emeritus Vaclav Smil, has just published a new book available in French, with the unambiguous title, “2050. Pourquoi un monde sans carbone est presque impossible” translated as “2050. Why a carbon-free world is almost impossible.”  The book is summarized here in French and English by Prof. Emeritus Alain Préat, Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Based on a recent paper by Professors Happer and Lindzen, it seems there is no climate emergency and thus no need for Net Zero targets.

US House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the ‘climate cartel’  led to the collapse of GFANZ and other Net Zero activist investor groups, it seems like the world is in the ‘race from Net Zero’ says Friends of Science; why Canada is running in the wrong direction?

 About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 23rd year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).
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