With a target on its back, upbeat oil industry wants to help Canada reach its climate goals

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

On the eve of the COP26 United Nations climate conference, a level of unease across the Canadian oilpatch might be expected. There are calls for countries around the world to wind down their oil and gas production as a critical step needed to slash emissions and address climate change.

The rapid wind-down of fossil fuels is needed, Environmental Defence's Julia Levin warned last week, "in order to limit catastrophic levels of warming, save millions of lives and end harm to front-line communities."

But after several years of low commodity prices, many energy companies are enjoying a return to hefty profits. Oil and gas prices are at multi-year highs — though that's leading to calls for companies to earmark those funds to speed up their efforts to reduce emissions.

At the same time, the world is experiencing a shortage of fossil fuels as economies emerge from the pandemic — a situation that's supporting the industry's argument that oil and natural gas, in particular, remain critical for everyday life.

In Canada, many in the oilpatch also see opportunity in using technology to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. They contend the sector can play a role in helping the country achieve its climate goals.

Considering that the oilsands represent about 11 per cent of Canada's total emissions and the rest of the oilpatch produces about another 15 per cent, the fossil fuel sector in Western Canada will likely play a critical role in determining whether the country reaches its 2030 climate goal.

Total CO2 emissions from the sector keep climbing as production is at a record high in Alberta.

The Conference of Parties (COP), as it's known, meets every year and is the global decision-making body set up to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in the early 1990s, and subsequent climate agreements.

To discuss the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow and the path ahead for the oilpatch, CBC News spoke with three people who have worked with and in the industry: 

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: COP26 is less than one week away. Are you nervous?

Martha Hall Findlay: Nervous isn't it. I think, frankly, every opportunity that we collectively have to engage in discussions about how we're actually going to solve this big challenge of climate change is helpful. It isn't helpful if you just have the same people who have the same ideas all saying the same thing. It is really helpful when you get people who might actually be in a position to challenge. So some of the environmentalists challenging what we're doing in the oilsands; people from the oilsands challenging environmentalists by saying, 'Just wishing it were so isn't gonna make it happen.' So how can we be realistic? Let's actually try and work together collaboratively just as we've done in terms of pandemics and vaccines. I think we can use that as a real example. This is a huge global problem, too. So how do we take lessons from that collaboration and figure out the solution? So I'm hopeful, actually.

Andy Mah: I'd like to just add that as fossil fuel companies, we do acknowledge that we can be a significant contributor to a solution. The panic that we need to rid the world of fossil fuels immediately is not a simple answer. I truly believe the energy sector has the skill set that's needed to find the solutions here.