Leaders of the world’s biggest economies should look to Canada as a major part of the solution to the global energy crisis.
That’s the message leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States will be greeted with as they arrive for the 2022 G7 summit in Germany this month June 26-28.
The Canadian Energy Centre has launched an advertising campaign targeting G7 attendees that highlights Canada as the supplier of choice for responsibly produced oil and natural gas. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the importance of oil and gas in world energy markets, and the long-term challenge of maintaining global energy security.
“Instead of calling on OPEC countries to boost production, G7 leaders should be pushing their ally Canada to step up and accelerate development and export of its own massive resources,” said Tom Olsen, chief executive officer of the Canadian Energy Centre.
The campaign includes a newspaper wrap and advertisements appearing in the Financial Times (Germany and Europe editions) and New York Times (International edition) in advance of G7 meetings that take place June 26 – 28. Also included are direct mail and digital advertising which targets G7 leaders in their home countries, all directing to the campaign website, LookToCanada.com.
Canada is home to the third-largest oil reserves on the planet, and in the short-term has the ability to provide the equivalent of up to 300,000 more barrels per day. In the intermediate- and long-term, Canada has massive supplies of natural gas that are ripe for export through liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Additional – and sorely needed – pipeline capacity could help ensure Europe and other continents are never held hostage to weaponized energy again. Canada’s energy producers are leaders when it comes to investment in cleantech, including carbon capture and storage, and producers representing more than 95 per cent of oil sands production committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
“Canada ranks number one among the world’s top oil reserve holders for environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Expanding sales of the world’s most responsibly produced oil and gas will decrease reliance on unstable energy suppliers and can help reduce global emissions and meet climate targets,” Olsen said. “In order to make this happen, we need G7 leaders to encourage the Canadian government to remove the barriers that keep us from being able to help our friends through this crisis.”
Alternative and renewable energy is playing a growing role in global energy markets, but these technologies are not yet capable of providing the scale of energy the world needs. The International Energy Agency projects that renewable energy, which provided 12 per cent of the global supply in 2020, will rise to 26 per cent by 2050 – while oil and gas are expected to continue to account for 50 per cent of the world’s energy needs in 2050, compared to 53 per cent in 2020.