Biogas Insights

June 28, 2023

CBA and Members Well-Received on First Hill Day in Ottawa

The Canadian Biogas Association (CBA) and some of our members were on Parliament Hill in early June for two days of engagement with government officials, MPs, Ministers’ offices, and Senators. The busy schedule included meetings and an evening reception, with remarks delivered by Executive Director Jennifer Green.

March 28, 2023

Budget 2023 fails to keep Canadian biogas producers competitive

On March 28, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Chrystia Freeland, delivered Budget 2023 - A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future in the House of Commons. This budget provided further details on Canada’s response to the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but much like the Fall Economic Statement (FES) 2022 it fails to put Canada on an even footing.

February 17, 2023

Making Budget 2023 Work for Biogas & RNG

With the release of the 2022 Fall Economic Statement in November, all eyes are on Budget 2023 to see how Finance Canada will respond to the American Inflation Reduction Act and finalize incentives for clean technologies.

November 09, 2022

Finance Canada’s new Investment Tax Credit Missing a Tool in its Emission Reduction Toolbox

On November 3rd, 2022, the federal government released the 2022 Fall Economic Statement (FES). The statement outlines the state of the Canadian economy and provided key details on promises made in Budget 2022.

Specifically, the FES provided details on programs designed to spur investment in Canada’s clean fuels sector which has needed support to attract investment after the passage of the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in August of this year. The IRA contains massive investments and tax credits designed to spur growth in the green economy in the U.S.

July 11, 2022

The newly released Clean Fuel Regulations are a step forward, but there is still work to be done to decarbonize gaseous fuels

Last week, Environment and Climate Change Canada released the Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR); filling a key mandate promise from Prime Minister Trudeau after nearly five years since the regulations were first circulated in a discussion paper. The finalized CFR is a key component of Canada’s ambitious climate plan, and part of a multi-pronged approach to achieving Canada’s climate targets by 2050. The CFR aims to gradually reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of liquid fossil fuels energy used across the country, working to achieve 20 million tons in annual reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, towards a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. The Regulations, alongside existing plans like the Emissions Reduction Plan and Canada’s recent commitment to the Global Methane Pledge are part of an integrated approach to practically and effectively reducing GHG emissions across all emission-heavy sectors while also contributing to energy security, carbon mitigation, air quality and sustainable industry in the long-term.

May 24, 2022

Everything you need to know about Carbon Offset Systems for Biogas & RNG

The recent report, Hitting Canada’s Climate Targets with Biogas & RNG, identified the optimal policy mix for leveraging biogas & RNG to meet Canada’s climate goals is a renewable gas mandate combined with a carbon offsets system that allows credits to be generated for the destruction of methane in landfills and agriculture.

April 20, 2022

Budget 2022: What it means for Biogas & RNG

Budget 2022 covers a lot of ground with focuses on making life more affordable, investing in economic development, and investing in the clean economy. On April 7^th, 2022, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, tabled her second federal budget, Budget 2022: A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable. Here are five key areas that are relevant for biogas & RNG:

March 30, 2022

Everything you need to know about a Renewable Gas Mandate

A renewable gas mandate is a regulation that requires natural gas distributors to gradually replace conventional natural gas with renewable substitutes like renewable natural gas (RNG), low-carbon hydrogen and synthetic gas. As such, it is an effective tool for decarbonizing conventional natural gas systems. This could be a particularly useful tool in Canada, where almost two thirds of Canadians count on natural gas for energy needs, but where conventional natural gas also accounts for 160 Mt of greenhouse gas pollution, or more than one fifth of Canada’s total.

November 18, 2021

Canada can beat its new methane goals with biogas and RNG

While we continue to dissect the results of the UN’s 26^th climate summit, there is one issue on which everyone agrees critical progress has been made: methane emissions.

September 24, 2021

Post-election 2021

Five ways that Biogas and RNG can support the new federal government’s goals

After six weeks of examining the differences among Canada’s major federal parties, let’s take a moment to appreciate a major point of consensus: the need for more clean energy to drive towards increasingly ambitious climate goals.

April 30, 2021

Budget 2021 Boosts the Role of Biogas in Canada’s Economic Recovery

On April 19, the federal government tabled its budget for 2021. Being the first federal budget since the COVID pandemic began, it’s been styled as the “recovery” budget, proposing targeted spending to stimulate the economy, create jobs and drive a durable recovery.

Biogas will be an important part of this recovery.

Modelling shows that biogas projects can generate good jobs and strong economic activity across Canada, including in both rural and urban regions, and including in some of the regions hit hardest by the pandemic.

April 09, 2021

Biogas could cut global emissions 10 per cent by 2030

Biogas could be the difference between meeting the world’s 2030 climate targets and missing them. That’s according to a new report from the World Biogas Association, which says biogas could cut climate pollution by a staggering 10 per cent globally by 2030.

February 10, 2021

Every scenario in Canada’s net-zero future involves biogas and RNG

Last year the Government of Canada joined more than 100 countries in pledging to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

On February 8, the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, an independent climate advisory body, released its long-awaited report on how Canada can fulfill that commitment. Using extensive modeling, the report details no fewer than 62 pathways for Canada to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with each pathway using different combinations of technologies and abatement opportunities.

Biogas and Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) are called upon in every single pathway. In other words, there is no scenario in which biogas and RNG will not be part of Canada’s net-zero future.

December 22, 2020

Canada’s New Climate Plan has a Blind Spot

On December 11, the federal government announced a “strengthened” climate plan that, for the first time, promises the tools necessary to meet Canada’s 2030 commitments under the Paris Agreement. The new plan’s hallmark feature is a steeper rise in the carbon tax, from $30 per tonne in 2020 to $170 per tonne in 2030. The plan also includes $15 billion to incentivize emissions reductions in sectors like agriculture, oil and gas, and transportation.

December 17, 2020

Two Ways That Biogas Can Unlock Canada’s Hydrogen Potential

Hydrogen presents an important opportunity for Canada. Recent federal and provincial strategies outline how Canada can capture this opportunity, both for Canada’s economy by turning Canada into a major global hydrogen producer, and for Canada’s domestic energy and climate goals by integrating the gas as a low-carbon transportation and heating fuel.