Opinions

In coming years, the world’s energy consumption is expected to increase dramatically. While it’s important to increase the development and use of renewable energies to meet these demands, the experts say we will continue to get most of our primary energy from fossil fuels well into this century.
In an attempt to reduce the environmental footprint of fossil fuels, a new national carbon management project has been launched. The first nationwide effort to accelerate Canada’s energy sector towards a zero-carbon emission future will be hosted by the University of Calgary, with the creation of a new research and development network announced by the Government of Canada.

Carbon Management Canada (CMC) will bring together multidisciplinary teams of the best energy, environmental and social science researchers at Canadian universities. They will work with partners in industry, the federal and the provincial governments and non-governmental organizations, and with major carbon management networks around the world.

CMC will focus on developing the insights, technologies and policies needed to greatly reduce global-warming carbon emissions in Canada’s fossil energy sector, including carbon dioxide emissions from the extraction, processing and use of coal, oil and natural gas. The network is expected to help reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent or more by 2050, compared with projected emissions under a “business-as-usual” scenario.
CMC will engage in major research initiatives and explore public policy questions in high-priority areas, including:

- Lower-emission fossil energy recovery and processing techniques;
- Cost-effective carbon dioxide capture technologies;
- Safe, secure and verifiable carbon storage processes; and
 - Effective regulatory regimes and market mechanisms to speed up implementation of publicly supported, low-carbon-emission technologies and practices.

“Carbon Management Canada is an incredibly important research initiative for Canada and is a perfect fit for the prestigious Networks of Centres of Excellence program,” said U of C president Harvey Weingarten. “Fossil fuels are necessary and central to our economy but they present challenges associated with emissions and climate change. Developing effective strategies to manage carbon emissions from our energy supplies will be essential to an environmentally healthy and economically prosperous Canada.”