Canada has 12 ‘carbon bombs’ that could exacerbate the climate crisis

According to an expert study published in the journal Energy Policythese are 12 hydrocarbon exploitation projects that will generate billions and billions of tons of greenhouse gases (GHG).

They are part of a list of 425 “carbon bombs”, projects located around the world, but mostly in China.

Three-quarters of the projects are concentrated in ten countries, including Canada.

According to the researchers, if all the fuel was extracted from these projects and burned, the countries that signed the Paris agreements in 2015 would not have achieved the planned targets, which are to limit global warming. average temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius. .the planet.

Among the 12 projects on Canada’s “carbon bomb” list is the Montney Play oil and gas project in British Columbia, which has 13.7 gigatonnes – hence billions of tons – of GHGs. With a ranking of 425 “carbon bombs” listed worldwide, it is one of the most polluting.

In second place, in the country, is the Murray River coal mine (8.5 gigatonnes of GHG) and in third place, the formation of the Spirit River (3 gigatonnes of GHG).

On this lackluster list, Canada’s other “carbon bombs” are the Gething coal mine (2.1 gigatonnes of GHG), the Horizon oil sands project (2 gigatonnes of GHG), the Kearl and Duvernay projects (1 .9 gigatonnes of GHG each), the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (1.4 gigatonnes of GHGs), the Christina Lake Project (1.2 gigatonnes of GHGs), the Liard Shale Gas Project (1.2 gigatonnes of), the Mildred Lake project (1.2 gigatonnes of GHG) and the Fording River coal mine (1 gigatonne of GHG).