ECO has seen some strange guests attend COP over the years. But this Friday morning, ECO was especially concerned about one. Swaddled by a 100-person convoy of oil crony delegates, the Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta Danielle Smith arrived at COP28.
While the world is here to achieve a fossil fuel phase-out, Smith is here to deny, delay and distract on behalf of the oil and gas industry. ECO knows Canada as an underperforming climate laggard, but few understand the root cause of its stagnation: a fierce oil & gas lobby that has captured obstructionist petro-provinces. Smith, the leader of the province known for its tar sands, is an especially hostile actor. ECO hears from its Canadian and Albertan friends that Smith is effectively attempting to hold their federal government hostage, dragging every climate policy through court and placing a moratorium on renewable energy projects, all while greenlighting carbon bombs and false solutions at home. At COP, Smith will grandstand her province’s tepid, targetless climate “plans”, but ECO won’t lose sight of Smith’s real agenda.
Smith is here to puncture holes in Article 6, vying to collect carbon credits for expansion of Liquified Natural Gas and expand its international markets. When discussing COP28 in a press conference on Tuesday, Smith equated the phase-out of fossil fuels to the phase-out of energy production, period. It seems as though this fossil has forgotten about renewable energy production entirel — ECO wasn’t surprised to hear of her attempts to block Alberta’s booming clean electricity sector, though it’s a puzzling decision for someone who claims to be a friend to industry and investment.
Smith is here to buy Big Oil precious time with false solutions like Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). The proof is in the pudding: while Alberta approves massive new subsidies for CCUS, they permit the destruction of carbon-dense peatlands, which already naturally hold at least triple the storage potential of CCUS.
Smith is here to subvert the Canadian government’s efforts to meet its Paris commitment, both by fighting a much-needed and long-overdue cap on the oil and gas industry’s emissions, the sector responsible for an incredible 28% of Canada’s emissions (and growing), and by threatening to flout the country’s law on clean electricity. Sadly, she’s also here to subvert the wishes of the majority of people in her province who want economic diversification away from oil and gas dependency – including Indigenous nations whose lands, waters, and health are threatened by toxic tailings spills.
Like all leaders who represent fossil-captured governments, Smith is here at COP28 to sacrifice a climate-safe future, sling political mud and enrich her oil buddies. ECO thinks it’s time industry-captured politicians like Smith stayed home.