Opinion: Canada must model Norway’s balanced energy sector

Canada needs to recognize itself as the energy giant that it is, and more importantly, realize how much greater of a giant it can be, while also being a leader in the energy transition. Unfortunately, we lack a cohesive, pragmatic culture and a fact-based narrative around energy, especially around fossil fuels, to take us to the next level.  

Debates and dialogues about fossil fuels and renewables are sharply polarized and too often crash into unworkable and impracticable extremes. One side calls for going to sleep one night and magically waking up without oil and gas, while the other rules out an energy transition entirely.  

Extremes have rarely ever borne good results, and Canadians should not be made to choose between them. There is much to learn from Norway in this regard.  

As a small country of less than six million people, Norway has managed to accomplish what Canada has thus far failed in, which is creating a balanced, effective approach to its use of fossil fuels and participating in the energy transition. Like Canada, Norway is a leader in petroleum-based exports, but unlike Canada, has carved out a role for itself as a pioneer in renewable and alternative sources of energy.  

The Nordic countries are often feted as model societies in North America, often by those most opposed to fossil fuel development. Evidently, they would prefer to have their cake and eat it too.  

Norway is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of natural gas, and fossil fuel exports made up 63 per cent of the value of the country’s total exports in 2023. Although a tiny country, Norway’s presence in the world’s natural gas market places it behind only the United States, Russia, and Qatar.  

Canada trails behind all these countries despite being endowed with the world’s 16th largest share of proven natural gas deposits. For comparison’s sake, Norway’s share is only the 20th largest in the world.  

While Norway is outpacing Canada in its gas exports, it is also a pioneer in clean energy. 88 per cent of its energy grid is powered by hydroelectricity, with other contributions from wind and solar.  

The Norwegian government has set ambitious goals for the country which include developing 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2040, which is enough to power more than 26 million Canadian homes per year. That is leadership in the global energy transition, balancing a healthy fossil fuel sector with a deliberate, straight-forward push to alternative, low-emitting energy sources.  

In Canada, LNG projects continue to fail to get off the runway, including five potential facilities on the Atlantic coast that could have begun operations by 2022 never getting started. The three currently being built on the Pacific coast in British Columbia are welcome developments, but they represent just the bare minimum of what can be achieved.  

Canada’s leadership is tripping over half-measures and clashing strategies when it comes to fossil fuels.  

On the one hand, the federal government rightfully stepped in to save the Trans Mountain expansion project by purchasing it outright, while on the other hand, it passed legislation like Bill C-69, also known as the “No More Pipelines” act, that would affect natural gas pipelines as well.  

This zeal on choking fossil fuel exports clashes with our energy consumption at home, as 73 per cent of Canada’s domestic energy consumption was still powered by fossil fuels in 2023.  

However, there are still strong taboos about developing nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Although expensive to build, nuclear power creates a plentiful, cheap supply of energy, but it is almost non-existent outside of Ontario. Wind and solar can never match the reliability and capacity of nuclear power, but they are held up as the magic solution to decarbonizing Canada’s energy grids.  

British Columbia is reliant on hydroelectricity, but falling snowpack, summer droughts, and rapidly rising demand have drained the reservoirs, forcing the province to import energy. However, BC has banned nuclear energy development outright since 2010, and the current NDP government has no plans to explore introducing it.   

While the NDP have set a goal of reducing emissions in BC by 40 per cent by 2040, that includes mandating that every light-duty vehicle sold in BC by 2035 must be an EV, they have dogmatically ruled out one of the most reliable sources of non-carbon energy. Barring nuclear, the only similarly readily available sources of energy will be fossil fuels.  

Canada needs to reconcile the likely need for oil and gas in the domestic energy grid if it will not consider nuclear power as a reliable alternative, as we cannot create new rivers for the expansion of hydroelectric power.  

Norway’s success in the energy sector was not random, it was deliberate. Public participation in setting the country’s agenda is huge, and there is alignment between industry, government, and even labour unions on this issue.  

The Norwegian government hosts a platform called KonKraft, which serves as a forum where stakeholders can provide input into crafting a balanced and sustainable strategy for the future.  

In Canada, there is hardly any consensus, and our approach to building it is fragmented and uncoordinated. There are advocacy bodies who appear before parliamentary committees, but these occur on an almost ad hoc basis and exclude the wider public.  

That process results in almost comical situations, such as in 2022 when the German Chancellor pleaded for Canadian LNG exports to replace Russian gas, only to be countered with an offer of hydrogen facilities that were not slated to come online until 2022. Unsurprisingly, Germany chose to partner with Qatar.  

That embarrassing situation would have been avoided had those five Atlantic LNG facilities not failed. The blame was placed on the lack of infrastructure, such as pipelines to ship the gas from Western Canada, but critics noted the lack of action contrasted with the federal government’s eagerness to subsidize EV plants elsewhere.   

Our muddied, confused approach to fossil fuels and renewables is holding Canada back, both as an oil and gas exporter, and as a potential leader in decarbonization. Ironically, Alberta, often cast as the villain of the energy transition, is leading Canada in the development of alternative energy sources.  

Having set a goal of displacing coal power by 2030, Alberta’s unregulated energy market has phased coal out completely this past summer, six years ahead of schedule. The province is well on its way to having one of the most diverse energy grids in Canada, while still being the country’s leader in fossil fuel exports.  

Canada’s path forward when it comes to the future of energy can longer be the twisting, confused mess it is today. If we cannot figure it out for ourselves, we should look elsewhere for guidance, and there are few countries that have figured it out better than Norway. 

Geoff Russ is a policy analyst and writer with the Resource Works Society in Vancouver. 

Jordan Weston is a former Harvard Alex G. Booth Research Fellow with the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre.

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