Canada’s coal exports up again in 2023 as government’s promised ban elusive

OTTAWA –

Canadian exports of thermal coal elevated one other seven per cent final yr, reaching the best stage in virtually a decade.

The growth in exports of the sort of coal burned to make electrical energy comes as Canada leads a cost to finish using coal as a supply of energy worldwide, together with at residence.

The Liberals additionally promised three years in the past that every one thermal coal exports will cease from Canada by 2030, however exports have risen virtually 20 per cent since that promise was made.

Statistics revealed this month by the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert present 19.5 million tonnes of thermal coal have been exported by way of their terminals final yr.

That’s up from just a little greater than 18 million tonnes in 2022 and is nearly twice the quantity Canada exported in 2015 when the Liberals took energy.

In 2022 greater than half Canada’s exports have been coal produced within the United States, primarily Wyoming and Montana, that’s shipped by rail to Vancouver after which throughout the Pacific. Most U.S. west coast ports will not permit thermal coal exports anymore, mentioned Fraser Thomson, a workers lawyer at Ecojustice.

Thomson mentioned the Canadian authorities has to step in and stay as much as its promise to cease each Canadian-made exports and the coal coming by way of Canada from the U.S.

“There’s really no time to waste,” he mentioned.

“They promised this in 2021 and we’ve seen the cost of inaction. Coal exports keep going up, this issue is getting worse and it’s not going to resolve itself. It requires definitive action, and the federal government is the government that can do it.”

Coal is taken into account the dirtiest gasoline for making electrical energy in relation to greenhouse fuel emissions and air air pollution. It produces virtually twice the quantity of carbon dioxide when burned as pure fuel to make the identical quantity of vitality.

Global coal use expanded in 2022, partly because the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to a spike in fuel costs. The International Energy Agency mentioned in its most up-to-date forecast that it believes thermal coal demand could have peaked in 2023.

China accounts for greater than half the world’s use of thermal coal, and India virtually 15 per cent.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault mentioned final month he expects to announce a plan to part out coal exports later this yr.

NDP MP Laurel Collins obtained uninterested in ready for Guilbeault to behave and in February launched a personal member’s invoice to pressure the top of coal exports. The invoice has not but been debated.

She mentioned Friday she is exasperated by the continued improve in coal exports.

“Even after I tabled my motion they simply repeated the same thing that they’ve been saying for years now, which is that they intend on phasing out thermal coal exports and yet the facts refute their claims. There has been no action.”

Collins mentioned there are staff whose jobs rely on coal, who want a transition plan and time to regulate to totally different industries. If the federal government would not transfer quickly there will not be sufficient time for that adjustment and staff can be harmed.

She additionally mentioned Canada has been lauded as a frontrunner in ending coal energy, and but it’s nonetheless exporting the issue.

Canada and the United Kingdom additionally launched the worldwide Powering Past Coal Alliance seven years in the past to encourage all nations to chop again on using coal as a supply of energy.

Canada’s home use of coal energy has fallen dramatically, helped by Ontario’s determination to shut all its coal energy crops. The final one in that province closed in 2014.

Alberta’s final two coal crops are transitioning to pure fuel this yr.

Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are the one different provinces with vital reliance on coal, however rules require them to shut them, transition them to fuel, or equip them with emissions seize expertise by 2030.

Despite all that, Thomson mentioned Canada continues to ship coal abroad.

“What happened when the Liberals brought in the effective ban on burning coal domestically, the idea was that the coal mines that were supplying those plants would be shuttered and eventually that industry would transition,” he mentioned.

“What we’ve seen since that time is domestic production of coal has skyrocketed threefold, and the government seems to not be doing anything about it despite promises to tackle it.”

Almost all the thermal coal Canada produces comes from coal mines in Alberta and is exported, primarily to Asia, from ports in B.C.