Alberta announces new carbon capture grant program

The Alberta government introduced a new program Tuesday to increase investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage facilities (CCUS) in the province. 

The Alberta Carbon Capture Incentive Program or ACCIP will grant up to 12 per cent of eligible capital costs to companies adding CCUS to their projects. 

The program will launch after the federal government passes the new CCUS investment tax credit announced in the fall economic update into law. More details on the provincial program are expected to come this spring. 

Premier Danielle Smith said the program is projected to add $35 billion in new investment over the next decade. She said government funding will be in the range of $3.5 to $5.3 billion, with some of it coming from the Technology Innovation Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund. 

"Alberta is busy proving that CCUS works at scale with the potential to become a powerful tool for building carbon-neutral economies," Smith told reporters at a news conference in Edmonton on Tuesday. 

"This technology is important because we're working to phase out emissions we're not phasing out energy production."

Smith made the announcement two days before she departs for the United Nations climate conference COP28 in Dubai. The premier and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz are leading an Alberta delegation of 100 people. 

The announcement comes after the International Energy Agency released a report warning that relying only on CCUS technology cannot solve the climate crisis. Smith questioned the validity of the report but said Alberta has a geological advantage to be able to store a lot of emissions underground and she expects the province may get the lion's share of CCUS opportunities. 

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley didn't have an issue with the program to help fund emissions reductions. But she questioned Smith and her government making CCUS the only way it plans to reduce emissions. 

"The fact that this provincial government is putting all its eggs just into that basket is concerning to me because emissions reduction is not only an environmental necessity, it is also an economic opportunity," she said.  

"It is one that this provincial government is absolutely determined to reject and run away from."