The federal government’s Pathways memorandum of understanding with the Oil Sands Alliance is being marketed as a climate breakthrough. It is nothing of the sort. Pathways is a non-binding pledge that enables expanded oil production, higher greenhouse gas emissions and billions in public subsidies for pipelines and carbon-capture infrastructure — all while claiming to chart a credible climate trajectory. This is not climate policy; it is greenwashing dressed up as national strategy.

A climate strategy that fails its own math

Canada emitted 689 megatonnes (Mt) of greenhouse gases in 2024, including 200 Mt from the oil and gas sector. Since 1990, emissions from this sector have risen by 80 per cent. Yet Pathways proposes to capture only 6 Mt per year by 2035 and an additional 10 Mt by 2045. Meanwhile, the expansion of the new pipeline alone is expected to generate 20 Mt of new annual emissions, according to the Canadian Climate Institute. The reductions promised by Pathways do not even offset the emissions created by the increased production it enables.

The 2025 Alberta–Carney agreement explicitly links pipeline construction to the Pathways project. Despite record profits — $37 billion for oilsands producers in 2023 — 90 per cent of the pipeline’s $43.7........

© National Observer