阿尔伯塔省将目光再次聚焦煤炭开发

    中国石化新闻网讯 据12月21日Natrual Gas World报道，加拿大的石油行业可能正在好转，但并不一定意味着将取得巨大的成功，可能仅仅是在稍微不那么艰难的情况下再撑一年。华尔街对加拿大石油市场表示乐观，但对油砂大省阿尔伯塔省的发展前景存疑，并将目光转向了另一种化石燃料，一种与绿色能源或越来越流行的ESG(环境、社会和公司治理)投资趋势相反的燃料——煤炭。

    阿尔伯塔省依靠化石燃料的开采为其经济提供动力，在相当大的程度上也可以说是为整个加拿大经济提供动力。该省目前有8座煤矿在运营，可以开采该地区超过910亿吨的可开采煤炭，值得注意的是，在一个越来越快地脱离煤炭开采的世界里，这个数字却可能会翻一番。具有讽刺意味的是，直到现在，加拿大一直非常愿意加入逐步淘汰煤炭的行列。众所周知，煤炭是一种重污染燃料，是全球温室气体排放的一个主要来源。就在2015年，阿尔伯塔省政府还承诺到2030年完全淘汰燃煤发电。令人惊讶的是，这比加拿大政府为实现巴黎气候协定设定的目标而作出的承诺早了三年。准备复兴煤炭的加拿大也在2017年联合国气候变化会议上与英国一起发起了一个淘汰煤炭的联盟——Powering Past coal Alliance。

    现如今，在加拿大为引领全球清洁能源领导者所做的努力之后，阿尔伯塔省正悄然走上恢复煤炭的道路。据《卫报》报道，该省目前正在考虑新建或扩建至少6个的露天矿，这些矿场将建在落基山脉的东坡上，而且大多是由澳大利亚公司建造的。这些项目将会使多达1000平方公里的森林、河流和草原“工业化”。

    王佳晶 摘译自 Natrual Gas World

    原文如下：

    Could Coal Help Canada Out Of Its Oil Slump?

    Things may be looking up for Canadian oil, but improving on something as dismal as the condition of our northern neighbors’ oil sector doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be going gangbusters--it could just mean that they’ll be eking out another year with a modicum less of hardship. Wall Street may be feeling bullish about Canadian oil, but Alberta, the province that the Canadian oil sands call home, is hedging its bets and looking toward another fossil fuel as its possible road to salvation. And no, the answer isn’t green energy or the ever-more popular ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) investment trend. In fact, Alberta is headed in the opposite direction, looking to the past for their future. Alberta is betting on, of all things, a “coal rush.”

    The province, which depends on fossil fuel extraction to power its economy--and, to a considerable extent, the entire Canadian economy--already has eight coal mines currently operating to extract the region’s more than 91 billion tonnes of mineable coal. But that number might be about to nearly double--an unusual occurrence in a world that’s increasingly moving away from coal mining at a brisk clip. And, ironically, until now Canada has been a more than willing member of the movement to phase out coal, a dirty fuel that is a particularly egregious contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. As recently as 2015, the Albertan government had pledged to phase out coal-fired electricity altogether by 2030, which was, amazingly, even three years earlier than the Canadian government made the same commitment as part of their cooperation with meeting the goals and benchmarks set by the Paris climate accord. And the very same Canada that’s poised for a coal renaissance launched the Powering Past Coal Alliance along with the United Kingdom at the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference.

    And now, after all Canada has done to place itself at the helm of clean energy leaders around the globe, Alberta is quietly on track to bring back coal. The province is now looking at “at least six new or expanded open-pit coal mines built up and down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, mostly by Australian companies,” The Guardian reported this week. “Together, these projects could industrialize as much as 1,000 sq km of forests, waterways, and grasslands.”