Alberta on track to hit methane reduction targets

The province of Alberta, source of the majority of Canadian natural gas production, said April 6 it had reduced methane emissions from its oil and gas sector by 44% between 2014 and 2021 and expects to meet and exceed its target of a 45% reduction by 2025, compared to 2014 levels.

“Alberta was the first government in Canada to set a methane emissions reduction target, and we’re 1% away from meeting it,” said Sonya Savage, the province’s minister of environment and protected areas and its former energy minister. “This is the result of strong leadership from the men and women in our industries, and investments in technology and innovation that are making a difference for our oil and gas sector.”

Alberta’s approach to reducing emissions focuses on investments in technology, innovation and research alongside programmes that help the industry improve methane emissions monitoring and management.

Among those programmes is the Methane Technology Implementation Programme, which has allocated about C$24mn for methane reduction projects at oil and gas sites, with those projects estimated to reduce emissions by about 17mn metric tons over the lifetime of the technologies.

“The province continues to deliver on funding programmes that support research into emerging technologies, field pilot testing and deployment of methane mitigation solutions,” said Jackson Hegland, executive director of the Methane Emissions Leadership Alliance. “We expect to see ongoing success as the energy sector pushes their ambition and key stakeholders keep working together to evolve and improve the world’s most comprehensive methane mitigation system.”