As a sustainability consultant in Canada’s oil and gas industry, Jamie MacKenzie Eddy has the unique opportunity to get an up-close look at a wide range of energy production. 

From wellheads and compressor stations to control rooms and corporate boardrooms, MacKenzie Eddy is able to gain a holistic understanding of how a company runs its operations. 

From high-level priorities to the nitty-gritty details of daily maintenance and repairs, he sees how the rubber hits the road when it comes to responsible development.

And while every firm is different, he has found something common among all his clients:

“When I visit a site, I am always impressed by how much pride the field staff take in the work they are doing to do things better and become more efficient,” said MacKenzie Eddy, a senior analyst of sustainability and emissions management for Calgary-based energy consulting firm GLJ Ltd. 

“Having an outsider come in is a chance for operators to show off, and it is so rewarding because it is often our assessments that enable a company to truly see all the good work they are doing to improve their environmental performance.”

Certification gains traction

Much of MacKenzie Eddy’s work these days is focused on helping upstream oil and natural gas producers achieve certification for their sustainability practices from recognized international assessment agencies.

As demand for natural gas climbs in North America and globally — and Canadian production hits record highs — producers in Western Canada are pursuing voluntary certification to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability to investors, customers and local partners.

Canada’s largest natural gas producer sets global first

In February, the country’s largest gas producer, Tourmaline, became the first company in the world to secure independent certification for its integrated natural gas production system under a methane emissions framework called MiQ. 

The certification requires detailed measurement, monitoring and reporting of methane intensity, along with third-party validation.

Tourmaline’s certification is notable not just for being first — but for its scope. 

Rather than certifying isolated wells or facilities, the company achieved MiQ’s Grade A certification across its fully integrated production system, spanning upstream production, gathering and boosting, and gas processing facilities. 

The recognition reflects years of investment in technology and infrastructure to manage emissions across the company’s extensive assets in Alberta and British Columbia, which supply 19 per cent of Canada’s gas exports. 

In the company’s most recent sustainability report, Tourmaline reported a 25 per cent reduction in methane emissions intensity since 2020 and about $50 million invested in environmental performance initiatives in 2024.

“Tourmaline is demonstrating the level of transparency and accountability that global gas markets are increasingly demanding,” said Georges Tijbosch, CEO of London-based MiQ.

Rising demand, falling emissions

The achievement comes amid growing liquefied natural gas exports and record high Canadian natural gas production – reaching 20 billion cubic feet per day in late 2025 – underscoring both the scale and growing global relevance of the country’s supply. 

Exports from the LNG Canada project reached a reported one million tonnes for the first time in April, a milestone for the project, which began shipments last July. 

New LNG projects including Cedar LNG and Woodfibre LNG are under construction, with the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal expected to reach a final investment decision this year. 

Tourmaline’s certification reflects industry-wide success in curbing emissions, as Alberta oil and gas companies beat the provincial government’s goal of cutting methane emissions 45 per cent below 2014 levels by 2025, surpassing the target three years early in 2022.

“We know that countries around the world want more Canadian natural gas, and this certification reinforces Tourmaline and Canada as a trusted and reliable global energy supplier,” said Tourmaline CEO Michael Rose.

Beyond markets: building trust

Beyond attracting international customers, Canadian oil and gas producers are using third-party validation to measure progress and build credibility with Indigenous groups, local communities and other key partners.

“Canadian companies are exceeding regulatory requirements and lead their global peers in environmental, ethical, governance and social principles such as free, prior and informed consent and human rights,” says Pepita Elena McKee, CEO of Impact Resolutions, a firm specializing in cumulative impact assessment, performance assurance standards and diversity, equity, belonging and access services.

Impact Resolutions was not involved in Tourmaline’s MiQ certification process, but it has led sustainability certifications for Canadian companies since 2019.

This includes a joint MiQ and Equitable Origin certification for Veren Inc. under Equitable Origin’s EO100 standard — covering environmental performance, safety, Indigenous rights, labour relations and stakeholder engagement. 

Canadian companies including Pacific Canbriam Energy, Vermilion Energy, ARC Resources, Pipestone Energy and Hammerhead Resources achieved EO100 certification through Impact Resolutions, representing a substantial share of the energy producers certified across North America.

Continuous improvement over ratings

“The EO standard is not a ‘check the box exercise’ but an effort on the part of the operator for continuous improvement,” said McKee, whose company works with GLJ to assess environmental performance metrics.

MacKenzie Eddy agrees, adding that Canadian operators are less focused on ratings than on the tangible improvements identified through the certification process.

“It’s rewarding to go to a control room and see the certification hanging on the wall, but the real value comes from all the opportunities you find and the continuous improvement that happens year after year,” he said.

The unaltered reproduction of this content is free of charge with attribution to the Canadian Energy Centre.

The federal government is following through on a key element of its energy accord with Alberta.

In its spring economic update, Ottawa confirmed plans to extend the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) investment tax credit to projects that include enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

EOR projects were notably excluded from Ottawa’s CCUS investment tax credit when it was rolled out in 2024.

“We were always puzzled; we were always concerned that EOR was removed from the conversation,” Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors, told reporters at the group’s December state of the industry luncheon. 

“I mean, EOR is a game changer for the conventional business.”

Enhanced oil recovery involves injecting CO₂ captured from industrial sources deep underground into mature oil reservoirs to help increase production. 

The CO₂ helps oil flow more easily out of the porous rock, making it more efficient to extract, while the injected CO₂ remains trapped underground. This process can extend the life of existing oil production while also enabling large-scale storage of greenhouse gases.

Six of Canada’s eight operating commercial-scale CCUS projects involve using captured carbon for EOR.

One example is the Weyburn-Midale project, which since 2000 has safely stored CO₂ equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 9.5 million cars—exceeding the total number of gasoline-powered light-duty vehicles in Ontario.

Having produced more than 600 million barrels of oil, Weyburn is one of the world’s longest-running CO₂ EOR projects. It still has decades of remaining potential, executives with owner Whitecap Resources said at the company’s investor day in January 2026.

In Alberta, Enhance Energy’s Clive sequestration project near Red Deer permanently stores more than 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ each year while producing oil through EOR.

The project helps reduce emissions from Alberta’s large industries while making use of existing infrastructure and addressing legacy liabilities from past oil and gas operations, said Enhance Energy vice-president Candice Paton.

“The inclusion of EOR in the CCUS ITC as a permanent geological storage option for industrial CO2 allows companies like Enhance to continue having a positive impact in both emissions reductions and energy production by repurposing existing assets,” she said.

Excluding enhanced oil recovery from federal investment incentives never made sense, lawyers Scott Masson and Tom Collopy of MLT Aikins’ energy group wrote in an analysis prior to the Canada-Alberta agreement.

“EOR is not a novel technology in Canada. These facilities, such as the Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, Saskatchewan, demonstrate that EOR is a natural extension of CCUS operations,” they wrote.

Including EOR in the investment tax credit would make the technology more financially viable for energy producers.

As a result, “Canada can simultaneously advance its environmental goals and economic interests,” they wrote. 

Along with existing regimes in Alberta and Saskatchewan, this will encourage more producers to consider using CO2-EOR to extend the value of mature assets, Masson told CEC. 

“This significantly changes the economics of a project,” he said. 

“When you are looking at CCUS projects, the incentive structures required to build them are important. We’re seeing a lot of projects in the CCUS space hovering around this final investment decision,” Masson said. 

“A lot of organizations have had problems getting projects across the line, and this change helps remove a sticking point that a lot of our clients in this space have had when it comes to CCUS.”

Calgary-based Conifer Energy welcomed the expansion of Canada’s CCUS framework to include EOR, saying it will help enable the long-term investment needed to advance major decarbonization infrastructure.

The company said access to the federal tax credit “materially improves” the economics of its future Alberta projects, which will permanently store CO₂ while supporting jobs and generating government royalties.

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Growing up in a small town in central Alberta, Blake Wickland saw what oil and gas companies contributed to the community.

“They did so much in Drayton Valley – my minor hockey teams always had an energy or energy services company sponsor us — and I’m sure people who grew up in any small town in Alberta could say the same thing,” Wickland said.

He wound up working in the industry, building and maintaining facilities around the province and the globe in scorching summer heat and freezing January darkness for almost three decades.

“I’ve seen a lot of change in the industry in that time. Some developments are very exciting and what we are seeing with methane emissions is one of them,” Wickland said.

“We are doing important work by making a stronger oil and gas industry through emissions reduction. Doing that helps future proof our industry and all the benefits it brings.”

These days, Wickland serves as executive director of the Calgary-based Methane Emissions Leadership Alliance, but remains focused on work at the wellhead.

Emissions targets surpassed

In Alberta, producers met the target of reducing methane emissions in the province by 45 per cent below 2014 levels three years ahead of schedule in 2022 — and have since surpassed it, with a 51 per cent reduction in 2024.

Oil and gas producers in B.C. are also ahead of schedule, reducing methane emissions by 51 per cent as of 2023, beating the province’s 2025 target of 45 per cent two years early.

New technology funding

Late last year, the Alberta government announced nearly $30 million in technology funding to help further reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.

Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) will receive $22.4 million for its new Methane Reduction Deployment Program, while $7 million was earmarked for the NGIF Accelerator’s new Methane Reduction Demonstration Program.

The funding comes from Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program, financed by levies paid by oil and gas producers under the province’s carbon pricing system.

“Our goal is to reduce emissions intensity by 20 per cent per project on average,” said Luca Jungen, ERA’s efficiency program delivery lead.

“There’s a much greater warming potential with methane than CO2 so the more we do with methane, the easier it is for Alberta and the energy industry to hit their GHG targets.”

Deploying methane-cutting technologies

Calgary-based Spartan Controls is one of the companies whose technologies have helped slash methane emissions in Alberta.

Spartan manager of environmental solutions Brian Van Vliet said previous incentives have helped companies adopt technologies that cut methane emissions.

“Producers trying to run a business face challenges being competitive globally with variable commodity prices, constraints in access to market and differing regulatory requirements. Implementing technologies to cut methane emissions is an added capital cost,” Van Vliet said.

“Providing funding through TIER, which industry pays into, makes sense because industry can get some of those dollars back when they continue to invest in eligible measures  that reduce their GHG footprint. And that benefits industry and the province because Alberta is producing hydrocarbon products with lower carbon intensities.”

Exporting Alberta innovation

Van Vliet said the benefits could reach beyond Alberta, with companies able to export methane reduction technologies to other regions.

“If something works in Alberta with its wide range of ambient temperatures and process conditions, it will be robust enough to work anywhere in the world,” he said.

The unaltered reproduction of this content is free of charge with attribution to the Canadian Energy Centre.