Alberta’s carbon edge

Abstract

Corporate planners usually have two main considerations when deciding where to locate big new industrial projects: access to cheap raw materials and proximity to customers. But as corporations and countries develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—down to zero by midcentury, in many cases—a new priority is emerging for planners: choosing a location that allows them to dispose of the carbon dioxide their new facilities will generate. Large industrial plants are meant to last decades, so planners need a solution for carbon now if they want to hit their own net-zero targets for 2050. Increasingly, the advantage is going to places that already put a price on carbon—either through taxes or trading schemes—and have the infrastructure and geological potential to sequester CO 2 below ground. Alberta is one such place. The Canadian province has always attracted oil and chemical investment. It produces 4 million barrels of oil per day, about