Supporting Leadership in Climate Change Reduction

There is a decades-old technology called “hot tapping” — developed in part by TransCanada and now used industry wide — that allows a new natural gas pipeline to be connected to an existing high-pressure pipe without releasing methane that would have otherwise been vented into the atmosphere in order to weld the two pipes together.

Capturing and reusing methane — a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) — instead of releasing it to the atmosphere has driven TransCanada’s research and development for decades, and continues today.

“Why do we do this? Because we believe technological innovation is critical to managing the complex issues surrounding GHG emissions,” said Jim Cormack, senior climate change advisor at TransCanada. “As a leading North American energy infrastructure company, we recognize our role in the discussion on reducing the world’s emissions.”

Part of the global effort

As the 2015 Paris Climate Conference kicks off two weeks of talks between world leaders, climate experts and members of civil society on action to curb GHG emissions, we want to take this opportunity to affirm our support for the Canadian government’s effort to tackle climate change.

Canada can lead the way in producing and transporting the energy millions of people rely on every day — to fuel transportation, heat homes, cook food and manufacture day-to-day essentials such as cellphones, clothes or medical equipment — while contributing to a healthy environment.

This includes our clean-burning liquid natural gas pipeline projects, which will help reduce Asia’s reliance on coal, our $5-billion portfolio of emission-less energy assets, ongoing dedication to research and development and our internationally recognized commitment to transparently disclosing our emissions and plans to manage them.

Energy demand continues to rise

We also recognize that today’s use of fossil fuels enhances the lives of billions, extends life expectancy and raises the standard of living for many across the world. But continuing to invest in reducing the emissions of these fossil fuels is paramount to our future.

“Energy comes from many sources, each with properties well suited for particular applications,” said Cormack. “This means we have to continue to develop technologies that will help meet all our energy needs with reduced emissions.”

“As we have been for decades, we remain committed to developing new technologies to remain on the industry leading edge.”

— Jim Cormack, sr. climate change advisor, TransCanada

According to the International Energy Agency, global energy demand is set to grow by 37 percent by 2040 and although the development path for a growing world population and economy will be less energy-intensive and will be marked by a shift to lower-carbon fuels, oil and gas will still help meet nearly two thirds of these global energy needs. Although rising, solar and wind will represent only four percent of the global energy mix by 2040.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) estimates that Canada’s oil and gas industry is investing more than $1.2 billion on hundreds of innovative solutions to reduce GHGs and minimize the impact of projects on land and water resources.

“Our industry developed the technology to get the oil out of the sand, and we will develop the technology to take carbon out of the barrel,” said Tim McMillan, CAPP president and chief executive officer. Environment Canada reports that emissions per barrel of oil produced from the oil sands are down 30 percent from 1990 levels.

“We know we can do more and we will do more,” McMillan added.

Emission reducing technology continues to improve

That’s why the energy sector continues to invest many billions each year to generate emission-less energy and find innovative solutions to develop high-efficiency, lower-emitting technology.

Here are just a few examples of TransCanada’s technological innovations that have helped to curb GHG emissions:

• “Blowdown emissions” consist of natural gas that would normally be vented to the atmosphere from pipelines, compressors and yard piping during repairs and maintenance. We introduced pull-down compressor units to capture and recycle natural gas that would have traditionally been released through venting or flaring.
• We’ve funded the development of a supersonic ejector that can capture emissions of methane from a dry-gas seal that would have previously been vented into the atmosphere, and re-inject it into the natural gas pipeline.
• We’ve partnered with Rolls-Royce to conduct trials on a new generation of gas turbine, which provides more power to move oil and gas through our networks of pipelines as well as greater fuel efficiency.

Our commitment to sustainability

We are committed to doing what we can to help improve our industry as well as managing our own GHG emissions. We will continue to invest in programs and initiatives to deliver the energy North Americans need in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

The technologies developed will help us ensure that environmental responsibility, positive social outcomes and shared economic benefits from the production and transport of energy resources are not mutually exclusive. We balance all of these in our decision making and know that all can be achieved.

Read more on our commitment to sustainability in our Corporate Social Responsibility Report.