Bob Larocque
President & CEO, Canadian Fuels Association
Canada’s transportation fuels sector believes that it can be a key contributor to a low-carbon economy. Bob Larocque, President and CEO of the Canadian Fuels Association (CFA), discusses the CFA’s recently-released roadmap to the future, Driving to 2050.
How are the members of the CFA driving innovation to lower emissions and supporting Canada’s plan for net-zero emissions by 2050?
Our sector is at the heart of the energy transition that’s already underway in Canada. Achieving a low-carbon future will require the use of a wide range of available fuels and technologies. There’s no single solution to solve Canada’s diverse energy needs, and we’re leveraging innovation in various ways to do our part. Aside from producing low-carbon liquid fuels such as gasoline blended with ethanol and biodiesel, our sector is involved in electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country and hydrogen vehicle fuelling stations in select locations. On the fuel production side, we’re also lowering emissions by using carbon capture technology as well as co-processing, which utilizes bio-content along with traditional petroleum feedstocks.
There’s a lot of commentary lately referring to the end of oil and gas. How do you respond to claims that your sector is part of the past and not part of the future?
Our industry is proud of the fact that Canadians have been relying on our products for more than 150 years. Now more than ever, the work of our sector is critical to keeping people and goods moving across Canada and beyond. This has been on full display over the past year as we’ve supported Canada’s response to the pandemic. By continuing to use innovation and harness technology to improve our processes as well as our products, our sector can be an important part of Canada’s low-carbon energy mix for generations to come.
How does Canada’s current transportation fuels infrastructure fit into a low-carbon economy?
We don’t need to start from scratch when it comes to building a greener transportation network. We have an excellent opportunity to leverage and adapt Canada’s existing transportation fuels infrastructure to meet our needs for the future. We believe that we can build a strong, resilient economy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by working in collaboration with governments and all stakeholders to optimize and integrate Canada’s energy resources.
