The early stages of construction are now underway on a new $1.6 billion net zero hydrogen complex near Edmonton, Alberta. 

One of its first customers is expected to be Imperial Oil, using the hydrogen to supply a proposed renewable diesel facility that could reduce Canadian transportation emissions by the equivalent of taking 650,000 cars off the road per year.  

“We are on the threshold of a material reduction of western Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions while sparking new economic development in the Edmonton region,” says Rachel Smith, general manager of Air Products Canada, owner of the hydrogen facility. 

“Hydrogen has been produced in Alberta for decades. But net zero clean hydrogen is a game-changer.” 

Net zero technology 

The complex will use advances in technology to achieve net zero emissions.   

To produce hydrogen, it will employ a system known as auto-thermal reforming (ATR) rather than the more traditionally used steam methane reforming (SMR) technology.  

An SMR facility equipped with carbon capture technology is recognized to enable cost-effective capture of up to 60 per cent of carbon emissions.  

Air Products says that ATR, which uses a different reaction for the chemical synthesis of hydrogen, is expected to enable 95 per cent capture of the carbon that would otherwise be emitted. 

The captured and compressed CO2 will be sent by pipeline to a permanent underground storage site approximately 40 kilometres away. 

To avoid the indirect emissions associated with using electrical power from the provincial grid, the complex will use a hydrogen-fueled electrical power cogeneration unit. It will be large enough to power the facility and enable excess power to be exported to the grid.  

The avoided emissions from the exported power are expected to offset the remaining five per cent of emissions from the ATR hydrogen facility, allowing the project to achieve net-zero. 

The complex has received a combined $475 million in funding from the federal government’s Strategic Innovation Fund, the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program, and Emissions Reduction Alberta.  

It is expected to be in service in 2024.  

Renewable diesel 

Also expected to be up and running in 2024 is Imperial’s proposed renewable diesel complex at its Strathcona Refinery. The deal with Air Products, announced in September 2022, is “an important milestone,” says spokeswoman Keri Scobie. 

The facility is expected to produce more than one billion litres per year of renewable diesel.  

This could reduce emissions from Canada’s transportation sector by about three million tonnes per year (from a total of 159 million tonnes per year in 2020).  

About half of the low-carbon hydrogen produced by the Air Products facility will supply the Strathcona complex.  

Smith says the facility will also produce zero-emission liquid hydrogen fuel for the transportation market, all derived from Alberta’s natural gas resource. 

Hydrogen complex construction began in fall 2022. Imperial expects to reach a final investment decision for its renewable diesel complex in the coming months.  

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The United Nations has released what it hopes will become legally enforceable guidelines to determine the credibility of an organization’s plans to achieve net zero emissions. 

The problem is that these recommendations are unrealistic and would guarantee less energy security in the future. 

The world needs to reduce emissions, but people still need reliable, affordable energy supply.

Here are the facts.   

Fact: The world needs responsibly produced oil and gas 

The UN said that “non-state actors (large corporations, financial institutions, and cities and regions) cannot claim to be net zero while continuing to build or invest in new fossil fuel supply.” 

The glaring problem with this statement is that in every credible scenario for the future, oil and gas remain critical to the global energy mix through 2050. That requires investment, and a lot of it. Not just in the future, but right now.  

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there was an “underinvestment problem” in global oil and gas markets causing supply shortages, higher prices and volatility, according to the International Energy Forum (IEF), which represents energy ministers from 71 countries around the world. 

Now, without access to sufficient natural gas supply in particular, countries in Europe are facing emergency measures like turning off the supply of hot water, community “warming halls,” and widespread power blackouts. 

“New investment in oil and gas is not in contradiction with efforts to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions, but badly needed to maintain economic stability as policy makers manage a long-term transition to net zero,” IEF secretary general Joseph McMonigle said earlier this year.  

Investment in oil and gas production needs to rise from a depressed US$341 billion in 2021 to US$525 billion annually through 2030 to ensure market balance, the IEF said. This year and next are seen as critical for new major projects to get the go-ahead.  

Oil and gas companies that are committed to reaching net zero in their operations – like reliable, responsible producers in Canada’s oil sands – are the ideal choice to meet demand and should not be discouraged from investing.  

Fact: The best place to start reducing emissions is Scope 1 

The UN said that in order to be credible, a net zero plan “must cover the entire value chain of a city, state or business, including end-use emissions.”  

This is otherwise known as all of Scope 1 (emissions an entity makes directly), Scope 2 (emissions an entity makes indirectly like from electricity use), and Scope 3 (emissions from everything all the way down to the end-use of an entity’s products, like gasoline in a car).  

Scope 3 emissions “are where it gets tricky,” according to consultancy Deloitte.  

In order to be effective, emissions reduction strategies should focus first on the fastest and most effective solutions while developing long-term answers.  

It makes sense that a company should start with Scope 1 and Scope 2, or emissions that are within its direct control. Complicating the early stages with requirements for Scope 3 is only likely to make the Scope 1 and 2 reductions happen slower. 

The Pathways Alliance, representing 95 per cent of Canada’s oil sands producers, has jointly committed to reach net zero by 2050, starting with Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. It will ultimately include Scope 3, president Kendall Dilling recently told BNN Bloomberg.  

“We wanted to really start with our own business first and take care of our own backyard,” he said. 

“We are looking at ways we can partner with end users of our product to also tackle the consumption emissions, and over the course of this path to net zero we’ll be coming at this from all ends of the spectrum.”  

That a company’s initial net zero plans do not include Scope 3 emissions should not be seen as a failure of its credibility.  

Fact: Debate is a cornerstone of democracy 

The UN said that “non-state actors cannot lobby to undermine ambitious government climate policies either directly or through trade associations or other bodies.” 

This statement indicates that even if a company has determined a scientifically reliable pathway to reach net zero, the so-called credibility of that plan would be challenged if the company questions government policy.  

That’s not democracy.  

In fact, the UN itself lists “freedom of expression and opinion” as one of democracy’s essential elements.

There’s no reason this should not be extended into work to reduce emissions around the world.  

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