Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. Environmental regulation and jurisdiction of the environment is a shared one. This government works with all willing provincial and territorial governments with the common objective of reducing emissions, promoting climate change and promoting a transition to a sustainable, greener economy. Nowhere is that more important than in the oil and gas sector, which is in many ways a leader in innovation in this area.

With regard to your question, Canada’s emissions reporting, as you would know, is prepared in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is based upon science.

With regard to the more specific aspects of your question, I’ll bring those to the attention of the minister.

[Translation]

Hon. Mary Coyle: Senator Gold, in 2021, the federal Liberals committed to establishing a global centre of excellence on methane detection and elimination. As you well know, methane is emitted by venting and leaking during oil and gas production as well as from forms of agriculture and from landfill sites. Methane represents about 13% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, which is very significant.

Canada is already home to many experts in methane measurement, including Dr. David Risk of St. Francis Xavier University’s Flux Lab, who won a Clean50 award for his team’s work measuring the methane emissions of over 7,000 sites in the oil-and-gas-producing regions of Canada. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development recently reported that the methodologies used by Environment and Climate Change Canada may be underestimating methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by anywhere from 25% to 90%. Despite the clear need for more research and the commitment, the centre was not included in the 2023 federal budget.

Senator Gold, is the federal government still committed to establishing a centre of excellence on methane detection and elimination? Can we expect to see it in this year’s Fall Economic Statement?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Slashing, reducing methane emissions is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to reduce emissions and to combat climate change, as you properly point out. That is why the Government of Canada has worked with various stakeholders and partners to implement regulations in the oil and gas sector.

I’m advised that the government is on track to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 75% by 2030, which is just about the most ambitious target in the world.

As for the specifics of your question, Senator Coyle, I’ll bring them to the attention of the minister.