Oil industry lobbied for proposed carbon pricing revamp

By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Originally published on Sep 25, 2025 at 09:09

Last week, Alberta’s government proposed changes to its industrial carbon pricing system that would allow high-emitting companies to avoid paying into a provincial fund or purchasing credits, and would also permit smaller facilities to opt out of the program. Documents reveal oil and gas lobbyists have been advocating for similar revisions to the emissions reduction program for years. 

The Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program requires large emitters to reduce their emissions intensity or compensate for exceeding pollution targets by purchasing offset credits or contributing to the TIER fund. Under the reworked regulations, companies will be able to use the investments in emissions reduction projects at their own facilities to meet up to 90 per cent of their compliance obligations, Premier Danielle Smith said at a news conference on Sept. 16.

Facilities that produce less than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year will be able to leave the program in 2025 “to reduce costs and red tape.”

In a press release, the province said the updated system will be “more effective and flexible [and] will make industries more globally competitive.”

Provincial lobbying records show the TIER program has been an ongoing target of the province’s largest emitters.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) reported having lobbied Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and other ministries to “repeal implementation of the carbon levy” and develop “cost-effective and efficient carbon regulations that will help encourage emissions reduction while protecting the competitiveness of industry in a global context.” CAPP also registered to meet with officials to ensure the “proper implementation” of TIER for large emitters.

In May, Alberta froze its industrial carbon price at $95 per tonne of emissions, which was scheduled to increase to $110 per tonne next year and $170 per tonne by 2030.

TransCanada Pipelines Limited, an affiliate of  TC Energy, began lobbying in 2023 on greenhouse gas emissions reporting requirements under TIER, as well as advocating “for policy design choices that would enable decarbonization efforts.”

A December 2023 filing shows Obsidian Energy lobbied the premier’s office and other ministries on the TIER regulations, saying it wanted to put forward ways to “reduce redundancy within the regulation” and promote “appropriate emissions standards.”

Beginning in July 2023, the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC) hired public relations firm Garrison Strategy to lobby for changes to “reduce administrative burden” in the TIER program and promote “innovative approaches” to “help mitigate against escalating costs for oil and gas companies.”

Cole Schulz, husband of Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz, is listed as a consultant lobbyist for Garrison Strategy on the EPAC file. Other lobbyists named in the return include Garrison Strategy partner Tim McMillan, a former CAPP president who endorsed Rebecca Schulz in the 2022 UCP leadership race.

Environment and Protected Areas is the lead ministry responsible for the TIER program.

The issue of potential conflicts of interest between Garrison Strategy and Minister Schulz was raised in 2023, but Smith said the situation had been reviewed and approved by the ethics commissioner.