By Emilia Belliveau, Energy Transition Program Manager, Environmental Defence

Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – The fossil fuel industry is still Canada’s biggest climate polluter, according to data released today by the Canadian Climate Institute. Despite Big Oil’s greenwashing, the industry is holding Canada back from doing its fair share in tackling the climate crisis. A new oil pipeline would dig us deeper into the hole we’re clearly already struggling to get out of.

Prime Minister Carney’s assertion that Canada can build a new pipeline, increasing fossil fuel production, on the road to net-zero is not credible. It’s even more preposterous to call it “nation-building” when Canada’s own criteria for projects of national interest includes helping Canada meet its net-zero goals and growing the clean economy. As Canada’s real world emissions rise amidst climate policy backsliding, hearing our political leaders champion risky and polluting projects and deny their climate impacts is Orwellian.

Background

• The Canadian Climate Institute’s early estimate on the country’s 2025 greenhouse gas emissions shows that our climate pollution has gone back up. The Early Estimate of National Emissions (EENE) finds that Canada’s emissions rose about 1 per cent in 2025, further off track from our climate targets. Canada’s 2025 emissions were 691 megatonnes.
• According to previous research from 440 Megatonnes, currently contemplated climate policies put Canada more than 20 years behind on its emissions targets.
• Prime Minister Carney is using the Pathways CCS project to greenwash the new Pacific Link pipeline, however, the math doesn’t add up. Pathways is set to capture just 6 MT of CO₂ per year by 2035. The Pacific Link pipeline, which is expected to transport 1 million barrels a day, will release nearly 28 MT of CO₂ per year based on the Government of Canada’s own data.
• Since coming to power, Prime Minister Carney has dismantled much of Canada’s climate progress. As a result, Environmental Defence is taking Prime Minister Carney and his government to court. We’re asking the courts to step in and order the federal government to create a climate plan that can actually protect Canadians and the environment from the worst impacts of climate change by meeting the 2030 target.
• “Natural” gas, or fossil gas, was the main culprit for 2025 emissions growth. Its use in building heat and electricity has grown. This is undermining the gains made by phasing out coal power. These sectors are some of the easiest to electrify, with effective and cost-efficient heat pumps in buildings, and new renewables on the grid. Yet Canada is making little progress electrifying its economy and fully decarbonizing its grid. Instead, the government is currently weakening the country’s Clean Electricity Regulations by allowing more room for natural gas.
• Oil and gas emissions account for approximately a third of the country’s emissions. Emissions were essentially flat in 2025, confirming that the industry has not been successful in voluntarily reducing its pollution and the importance of regulations like the scrapped cap on emissions from the oil and gas industry.
• Last month, the Government of Canada essentially buried the latest state of the climate report.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

– 30 –

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Alex Ross, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca