For 20 years, Canada’s leaders have promised a carbon capture fix

From 2000 to 2024, 68.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide was captured in the country, Environment and Climate Change Canada confirmed to The Narwhal. That means the oilsands added more emissions to the atmosphere in one year, 2024, than carbon capture equipment has ever stopped from industrial sources over roughly a quarter-century.

It's also a small fraction of the capture amounts once thought possible. A 2008 report that came out of Harper's announcement said Canada could theoretically capture as much as 600 million tonnes a year, and that carbon capture could be "implemented quickly, within a decade, using existing technology."

"Carbon capture has never, ever been proven at scale, or price. That's just a fact," Catherine McKenna, a former environment minister under the Justin Trudeau government, said in an interview.

"The oil and gas companies talked to me about carbon capture and storage, and made promises, for like a decade. We have yet to see anything."

Now, like Harper before him, Prime Minister Mark Carney is putting his faith in carbon capture technology to do the heavy lifting, while he advocates for more oil production.