By Nia Williams
(Reuters) – Canada on Monday released a framework for eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, making it the first G20 country to deliver on a 2009 commitment to rationalise and phase out government support for the sector.
The framework will apply to existing tax measures and 129 non-tax measures, but the government has not put a dollar value on the subsidies that will be affected.
Fossil fuel actives will be exempt from the framework if they fall into one of six categories: enabling significant carbon emissions reductions, supporting clean energy, providing essential energy to a remote community or short-term support for an emergency response, supporting Indigenous participation in fossil fuel activities or are projects that have a credible plan to reach net-zero by 2030.
“It ensures that the only federal support for oil and gas goes to projects that decarbonize the sector and result in significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions,” federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told a press conference.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)
