The CO2 extractors: Alberta oil vs Canadian climate policies – Canada’s National Observer
December 15, 2025
About the only thing Albertans produce more than crude oil are angry demands to kill off Canada’s climate policies — policies they claim have been throttling its oil industry. My first chart shows what has happened.
See that black line rocketing upward? That’s Alberta’s annual oil extraction going back to 1950. Canada’s major climate commitments are marked with green lines.
I’ve shown oil extraction in millions of tonnes of embodied CO2 (MtCO2). This is the climate pollution released when oil is burned for energy. In fact, the CO2 molecule itself creates the energy as it forms. With oil, CO2 and energy are inseparable sides of the same coin. In climate geek-speak, oil’s embodied CO2 is known as scope 3 liability — it’s the harm a product causes when used as intended.
Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/15/analysis/co2-extractors-alberta-oil-climate-policy
