Mark Carney and Big Oil are distracting you with fake climate solutions

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]As the climate crisis rages, Mark Carney is dangling a shiny object to distract us.

[00:00:11]Sorry. Rather than aggressively cutting emissions, the Liberals are promising to capture and store them. Sounds good, right? Carbon [music] capture and storage, or CCS, is getting a lot of play right now. [music] Mark Carney's spring economic update included new tax credits for oil companies to develop the technology. [music] That's on top of billions that Carney and Justin Trudeau before him have [music] already provided the industry.

[00:00:40]The problem? The scheme is expensive, has a terrible [music] track record, and in some cases even leads to more emissions. Worst of all, it's being used as a cover for even more fossil fuel production, [music] even as the rest of the world starts to transition.

[00:00:58]But don't take my word for it. Listen to how Mark Carney himself put it in his book Values back in 2021. There are concerns that carbon capture [music] will be used as a means to justify continued fossil fuel use.

[00:01:14]Let's explore. [music] Countries around the world, including Canada, have pledged to cut down on emissions that are destabilizing our planet. CCS is a very have your cake and eat it, too, sort of solution. [music] Instead of simply capping big polluters, the idea is to capture emissions and trap them underground in rock formations or in materials like concrete.

[00:01:37]>> In Canada, we have great natural geology for this, which keeps the carbon safely stored for the long term, out of our air and out of our [music] environment. But in the 50 years since CCS started being used in one form or another, it has only captured 0.001% of global emissions. Now, for comparison, that's like the weight of one of my fingernails compared with the weight of my entire [music] body. In some cases, oil companies are actually using the carbon they capture to produce more oil. Through a process called enhanced oil recovery, CO2 gets captured and then pumped back into existing oil projects. Pressure from the gas helps to recover more oil from a site. In other words, we're paying oil companies to produce more emissions when they're supposed to be reducing them.

[00:02:32]The technology takes a long time to build, uses lots of energy, and is extremely expensive, which is why oil companies have been trying to get the [music] public to foot the bill. And if anyone needs government support right now, it isn't oil companies. This year alone, Canadian oil companies are expected to make 60 billion dollars in extra profits because the US-Israel war on Iran is pushing up oil prices. Right now, profits are plentiful. Sky-high oil prices pushing up revenues for the industry. We could tax that wealth and put public money toward tested climate solutions that benefit all Canadians, not just oil companies. Like a clean east-west electricity grid, public transit, non-market housing, or renewable energy. So, why does Mark Carney keep pushing this tech on behalf of the oil industry? It's likely related to his partnership with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. The technology allows Carney and Smith to argue that Canada can somehow increase oil production and keep emissions in check at the same time. But, this solution is like being told that you're producing too many eggs and then trading a bunch of your eggs for some chickens.

[00:03:52]You're just the cycle. And the latest wild development in this story, even after oil companies got billions [music] of public dollars to build this distraction, their mouthpieces are now suggesting they may abandon it entirely and do nothing but drill, baby, drill.

[00:04:09]Given everything that's changed in the world right now, this is not the time.

[00:04:13]>> Carney is expected to [music] imminently announce plans for a new pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast. But, the Prime Minister's pledge to double down on fossil fuel production to realize our country's full potential as an energy superpower will push us further from the climate targets we need for a more livable future.