Government of Canada Announces Next Steps on Methane Centre of Excellence and Associated Call for Proposals

OTTAWA, ON, March 11, 2024 /CNW/ - To fight the worst impacts of climate change and thrive in a net-zero future, there is an urgent need to reduce methane emissions and an enormous opportunity for Canada to lead. Methane, which has at least 80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, accounts for 14 percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions on a CO₂-equivalent basis. Cutting methane emissions is widely recognized as one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective ways to fight climate change.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, officially launched Canada's Methane Centre of Excellence and an associated call for proposals for methane emissions measurement and mitigation projects.

Spurred by an initial investment of $30 million, work associated with the Methane Centre of Excellence will aim to improve the accuracy, understanding, reporting and mitigation of methane emissions by focusing on key data, measurement techniques and technology development. The Centre will also improve knowledge sharing between Canadian industry leaders, emitting sectors, provincial and territorial governments, and international partners. Taken together, these activities will promote projects and technologies that lower emissions to fight climate change, create good jobs and new market opportunities, and support a clean and competitive economy.

The Centre will also convene a community of practice of experts and stakeholders to collaborate on efforts that will help drive the development, deployment and growth of methane measurement and mitigation solutions in Canada. This will include a dedicated online collaboration community for information sharing. 

Funded under the Energy Innovation Program, today's call for proposals will invest principally in projects that develop more effective approaches for methane measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), with remaining funding directed to projects focused on the mitigation of methane slip.

Projects funded by this call for proposals, and other work associated with the Centre of Excellence, are crucial given that methane emissions — particularly methane leaks, also known as fugitive methane emissions — have been consistently under-reported for decades, both in Canada and globally. Strengthening the ability to measure emissions is key to bolstering Canada's clean economy and climate leadership and will be an important part of ensuring Canada meaningfully achieves its goal of slashing oil and gas methane emissions by 75 percent below 2012 levels by 2030.

Canadians are global leaders in the technologies, regulations and science associated with methane emissions due to Canada's early leadership providing methane management solutions. Canadian expertise has helped countries around the world develop strategies to limit their own methane emissions, and we continue to work with like-minded partners, including 150 fellow signatories to the Global Methane Pledge, which commits to a collective goal of reducing human-caused methane emissions by at least 30 percet from 2020 levels by 2030.

Today's announcement is another step taken to fight climate change while catalyzing innovation and generating economic benefits. Through the Centre of Excellence, among other venues, Canada will continue to invest in the innovative projects and technologies that form the cornerstones of a strong and prosperous net-zero economy.

"We are taking action to support innovation, reduce emissions and enhance competitiveness across the sectors that are at the forefront of the clean economy. With over 170 Canadian companies already borne out of Canada's leadership in regulating methane emissions, it is clear that reducing these emissions both fights climate change and creates economic opportunity for Canada. The Centre of Excellence will help ensure Canada achieves its methane emissions reduction commitments and the economic, health and climate benefits that their achievement will bring." 

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson 
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

"Canada hosts a growing of community innovators ready to deploy solutions that will monitor and reduce methane emissions. This new Methane Centre of Excellence will play a fundamental role in bringing together leading stakeholders, including industry, to join forces on the development and implementation of methane solutions that will help Canada meet its climate and economic goals."

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

"Reducing oil and gas methane emissions is one of the success stories of Canada's climate action to date. To continue this momentum, we need further improvements in measuring, tracking and reporting on methane emissions. The Methane Centre of Excellence will help bring together leaders to share knowledge and experience that will further advance the science and technology needed to tackle methane emissions. Given that methane is a key climate pollutant, taking swift action to quantify and reduce emissions will help fight climate change and protect our environment."

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Environment and Climate Change

• More details on eligibility for the call for proposals are outlined in the Applicant Guide. The call will remain open to applicants until April 17, 2024, at 6 p.m. ET.
• In addition to ongoing work, the call for proposals and the Collaboration Community, the Centre of Excellence will also be convening a Methane Speaker Series to exchange new learnings and state-of-the art approaches to methane measurement and mitigation. If you would like to offer a talk or suggest a topic for discussion, please fill out the input form.
• Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change after CO₂. It is responsible for roughly 30 percent of global warming since pre-industrial times.
• The oil and gas sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing methane emissions from this sector includes many low-cost solutions and is one of the most effective ways to slow the pace of climate warming.
• In Canada, recent studies have demonstrated that bottom-up inventories underestimate methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by between 25–90 percent, demonstrating the decisive need for better measurement.
• Canada was one of the first countries to publish national-level regulations targeting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector and was the first country to commit to reducing methane emissions from oil and gas by at least 75 percent by 2030 (below 2012 levels). Canada is already on track to meet its 2025 methane reduction target of 40–45 percent below 2012 levels, making Canada well positioned to go further, faster.
• Canada has been investing in projects and research on methane emissions reductions since 2016, including:
  • $170 million to incent and support the energy sector in reducing oil and gas methane emissions and complying with stringent regulations to reduce oil and gas methane emissions through the Emissions Reduction Fund;  
  • $25.5 million through the Clean Growth Program and the Energy Innovation Program for innovation in methane emissions measurement and reduction, which includes key investments such as:
    • $11 million for the NGIF Emissions Testing Centre ($9 million from NRCan, with a further $2 million from PrairiesCan this year)
    • $1.87 million for Carleton University
  • $7.1 million since 2019 for government-led research efforts to strengthen methane measurement, reporting, verification and data.
• Canada joined by international partners in regulating and controlling methane emissions including the U.S., EU, China, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. This presents an opportunity for Canada to lead and share its best practices with the growing list of countries taking action.
• Canada is also an active participant in international initiatives on greenhouse gas emissions, including the Global Methane Pledge, the Global Methane Initiative, the Net-Zero Producers' Forum, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

• Applicant Guide 
• Methane Call for Proposals
• Methane Centre of Excellence
• Faster and Further: Canada's Methane Strategy
• Minister Guilbeault announces Canada's draft methane regulations to support cleaner energy and climate action
• U.S.-Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Arctic Leadership
• Emissions Reduction Fund: working together to create a lower carbon future

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