Nearly C$2 billion have been shelved by Canadian oil sands companies in green initiatives in a cost-cutting drive to weather the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the high costs to turn a profit in the sector, international oil firms left Canada in droves in recent years. To pressure the country to reduce the environmental impact of oil-sands production, some investors and banks halted financing.
Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources have cut a combined C$1.8 billion ($1.32 billion) in planned spending on green initiatives this year due to losses caused by economic lockdowns.
For producing excessive greenhouse gas emissions, Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund blacklisted Suncor and other large producers in May. Last year, the country’s largest pension fund KLP exited oil sands investments. At 39 kilograms per barrel of oil equivalent, which is more than triple that of the US, the Canadian industry has the highest upstream emissions intensity among major world oil and gas producers.
