Canadian Gas Association response to the Voluntary Challenge and Registry

Since the inception of Canada's Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR) program in 1994, the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) and its members have been active in promoting emissions reductions. Natural gas is considered to be one of the cleanest fossil fuels. However, the industry faces several challenges. Over 50 per cent of Canadian production is exported to the US, but no credits are being received to offset emission reduction in the US from fuel switching to natural gas. Also, more than 80 per cent of the emissions from the natural gas cycle occur at the burner tip, therefore users of natural gas must share the responsibility for reducing emissions through conservation practices and greater use of high-efficiency equipment. The activities undertaken by the CGA in response to the VCR program, including research and technology development were reviewed, and a forecast of future activities was presented. It was predicted that the demand for Canadian natural gas will exceed the historic rate of emissions reductions accomplished through energy conservation and efficiency improvements, hence there is likely to be an increase in net emissions. An argument was made to establish proxy indicators of success for the gas industry for VCR, such as emissions on a unit basis (unit of energy, production, throughput, etc.) to take into account the fact that the increase in natural gas demand is, in part, the result of fuel switching from more polluting fuels