The one-year anniversary of Alberta’s Emissions Reduction and Energy Development plan - An assessment of progress to date and recommendations for action

The plan included an “aspiration” for the province's economy to become carbon neutral by 2050, and as such represented an important moment in Alberta officially recognizing, for the first time, its responsibility to join with other governments worldwide (including the Government of Canada and other provincial governments) that were already committed to the same climate goal. [...] Government of Alberta data shows that the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) regulation has contributed to reducing emissions by approximately 30 megatonnes (Mt) between 2007 and 2022.5 The province also has a proud history of technical innovation in the energy sector and is home to some of the world’s leading experts on emissions reduction technologies, such as carbon capture. [...] However, the ERED did include commitments to strengthening Alberta’s methane emissions reduction target, and to “exploring” the reduction of Alberta’s oilsands emissions limit to align with the reduction milestones outlined by the oilsands industry group, the Pathways Alliance. [...] By recognizing the value to the utility system that comes from reducing or managing load, Pembina Institute The one-year anniversary of Alberta’s Emissions Reduction and Energy Development plan | 7 and paying users for generating this value, utilities provide the infrastructure needed to accelerate and expand investment in demand-side resources identified in the ERED plan. [...] We respectfully acknowledge the space our organization is headquartered in as the traditional and ancestral territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of the bands Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai, the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations, including the bands of Goodstoney, Chiniki, and Bearspaw, and the Tsuut’ina Dené.