Government Of Canada Proposes Methodology For Estimating Upstream GHG Emissions In Major Project Review

Late last week, the Government of Canada released a proposed methodology for estimating upstream GHG emissions from proposed oil and gas projects undergoing federal environmental assessment. This comes on the heels of the Government's announcement in late January of its new guiding principles for project review, one of which included assessment of "direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions linked to the projects under review" (see our previous blog post here). Interested parties have until April 18 to provide comment to the Oil, Gas and Alternate Energy Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada, following which a final methodology will be developed.

What does "upstream" mean? The proposed methodology defines upstream to include all industrial activities from the point of extraction to the project under review. While the specifics will vary by resource and project type, in general this would include extraction, processing, handling and transportation. The