![\"minus](\"https:\/\/thenarwhal.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/thenarwhal\/assets\/icons\/remove-circle.svg\"\/)
![\"plus](\"https:\/\/thenarwhal.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/thenarwhal\/assets\/icons\/add-circle.svg\"\/)
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Summary<\/p>\n
The Oilsands Alliance, formerly known as the Pathways Alliance, represents the largest companies operating in the Alberta oilsands.<\/p>\n
Since 2021, the alliance has promised a huge carbon capture project that will reduce oilsands emissions by 68 megatonnes each year, three-quarters of the industrial region\u2019s total.<\/p>\n
In the finalized memorandum of understanding between the Alberta and federal governments, that number has been quietly reduced to just 16 megatonnes annually, a reduction of 77 per cent from the initial promise.<\/p>\n
Five years ago, the five largest oilsands producers promised their operations would be net-zero by 2050. The claims were huge: a massive carbon capture and storage project would store 68 million tonnes of carbon emissions deep underground each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, with a memorandum signed between Alberta and Ottawa to facilitate a new oilsands pipeline to the West Coast and promises of billions in tax credits to support the project, those promises have plummeted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the agreement, finalized in May, it\u2019s anticipated those same producers will capture 16 million tonnes annually by 2045, a decline of 77 per cent from the original claim.<\/p>\n
The pledge to achieve net-zero emissions in the oilsands was part of an intense pitch to governments over the past five years, alongside major lobbying to provide financial support for what could be the largest carbon capture<\/a> project in the world.<\/p>\n It was put forward by the Pathways Alliance \u2014 now renamed the Oilsands Alliance \u2014 made up of the largest companies operating in the Alberta oilsands: Suncor, Cenovus, Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips.\u00a0<\/p>\n The federal and provincial governments have now both unveiled tax credits for carbon capture, rolled back environmental regulations aimed at tackling emissions, pledged to fast-track projects and signed an agreement to aggressively push a new pipeline through British Columbia, even without a company willing to build it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Patrick McCurdy, a professor of communications at the University of Ottawa who has studied environmental claims by the alliance of oilsands companies, said the walkback fits into a larger pattern of greenwashing \u2014 a method in which companies mislead the public through those claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the companies will \u201csay whatever is politically convenient and what they can get away with\u201d to build the social licence needed to keep producing oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey have that now with [Prime Minister Mark] Carney,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Academic paper found \u2018numerous indicators of greenwashing\u2019 in carbon capture project\u2019s messaging<\/p>\n The coalition of companies, then called Pathways Alliance, explicitly called for reductions of 68 megatonnes of emissions per year and celebrated the goal in news releases<\/a>, editorials<\/a> and widespread advertising campaigns.<\/p>\n The project would be built in three phases, each phase capturing between 21 and 25 megatonnes per year, according to those early pledges. One megatonne is one million tonnes.<\/p>\n As late as December of last year, the Alberta government used the 68 megatonne figure<\/a> in a presentation to U.S. lawmakers highlighting Alberta\u2019s energy potential.<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n McCurdy has studied the claims of the Oilsands Alliance since its inception and co-published a paper in 2023 focused on how it greenwashes information<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The paper\u2019s conclusion was unequivocal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are numerous indicators of greenwashing in Pathways Alliance\u2019s public communication,\u201d it reads. \u201cTheir messaging omits important information, uses misleading framing and comparisons, and fails to meet standards expected of a credible net-zero plan.\u201d<\/p>\n It says the alliance\u2019s environmental, social and governance claims should raise concern about the viability of its carbon capture and storage project.<\/p>\n Canada does have laws about greenwashing \u2014 though they were walked back by the Carney government<\/a> last year. When those laws passed, Pathways wiped many environmental promises<\/a> from its website. The anti-greenwashing provisions, part of the federal Competition Act, had been created in part to address the issue<\/a> of companies advertising they were headed toward net-zero emissions while not presenting evidence showing they were taking any significant steps toward cutting their carbon pollution.<\/p>\n In an interview, McCurdy said it\u2019s typical for oil and gas companies to make big public promises and then lobby behind the scenes to move the yardsticks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine they\u2019re able to reduce these numbers, or change the numbers \u2026 because the social licence doesn\u2019t seem to be threatened in the same way it was before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Oilsands Alliance did not respond to questions from The Narwhal.<\/p>\n The office of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the Alberta Environment and Protected Areas Minister Grant Hunter did not respond to emailed questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The federal Privy Council Office did reply, but did not directly answer any of the emailed questions, instead highlighting the balance between economic growth and emissions reductions.<\/p>\n When asked if the federal government is confident the project can achieve the lowered target of 16 megatonnes, Pierre Cuguen, a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office, said the country already has operating carbon capture and storage projects that prove the technology can work in real-world conditions, while noting it aims to be the largest carbon capture project in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPathways will continue to go through detailed design work, regulatory review and investment decisions as the project moves forward,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n The oilsands account for a third of all emissions in Alberta<\/p>\n The memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and Alberta finalized terms for everything from an industrial carbon price<\/a> to building out a national electricity grid, but the terms related to the Pathways carbon capture project still require a three-way agreement with the companies behind the scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n But the governments reaffirmed \u201ctheir shared objective\u201d of the project reducing emissions by 16 megatonnes annually by 2045, starting with six megatonnes when the project comes online in 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n The oilsands emit approximately 90 megatonnes of emissions each year, almost 33 per cent of all emissions<\/a> in Alberta. Since 2004, 15 megatonnes of emissions have been captured<\/a> by existing carbon capture projects in the province, slightly more than one megatonne per year.<\/p>\n Both governments have agreed to walk back carbon price targets, streamline approvals of projects and the federal government has scrapped the proposed oil and gas emissions cap and largely handed environmental impact assessments over to the province. Each represents a lobbying victory for the oil and gas companies.<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n Sean McCoy, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Calgary who specializes in carbon capture, said the changes in emissions pledges are not due to any changes in technology or knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLet me put it this way, I bet 99 per cent of what we know today about capturing carbon dioxide, more like 99 or even above, we knew in 2021,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCoy said one possible answer to why the project has been scaled back so drastically is cost, comparing it to a home renovation where big plans are reconsidered as the price tag rises.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is pretty common in these sorts of projects, either the cost goes up or the scope of the project shrinks if you\u2019re trying to manage your budget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But McCoy points out that even the reduced 16 megatonne figure represents the largest carbon capture and utilization project ever constructed.<\/p>\n When asked if the reduced target was achievable, McCoy said it\u2019s ambitious.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just really, really big,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at the scale of all the different parts, because it\u2019s not like they\u2019re going to capture 16 million tonnes at one smoke stack.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how much the final project will cost, but estimates point to a budget over $20 billion, and the former CEO of Imperial Oil previously said the alliance was aiming for 75 per cent of the funds<\/a> to come from the federal and provincial governments. Most of that will come from newly established tax credits.<\/p>\n Carbon capture is \u2018always a just-around-the-corner type thing\u2019: professor<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot we don\u2019t know about the Pathways project, McCoy said, so it\u2019s hard to directly evaluate the plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCurdy, looking at it through the lens of influence and communication, sees that as intentional. His research includes strategic omissions as part of the greenwashing strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese companies, some of the biggest in the country, have the money to focus-group, to get the best creatives to make these campaigns to try and get public sentiment on their side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But while earlier oilsands marketing focused on the need to decarbonize and the goal of achieving net-zero emissions, the messaging has changed alongside the reduced emissions ambitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WPC_56_WEB-1024x638.jpg\"\/)
The Oilsands (formerly Pathways) Alliance includes some of the biggest corporations in the country, and they have budgets to sway public opinion or, as in this photo from the World Petroleum Congress, make their presence known at influential gatherings. Photo: Jeff McIntosh \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AB-oilsands-Ft-McMurray-aerials-Bracken-094_WEB.jpg\"\/)
The oilsands produce about 90 megatonnes of emissions annually \u2014 almost a third of Alberta\u2019s total emissions. The carbon capture project proposed by the Oilsands Alliance is aiming for a net reduction of 16 megatonnes of emissions per year by 2045. Photo: Amber Bracken \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n