Our views

• As emerging economies grow and living standards improve, global demand for energy and materials is expected to rise.
• People around the world will continue to need access to a secure, diversified mix of affordable and reliable energy, including responsibly produced oil and natural gas.
• A range of energy outlooks show oil and natural gas maintaining a key position in the global energy mix for decades, including under energy transition policy scenarios.
• Hydrocarbons, the primary components of oil and natural gas, are important feedstocks for thousands of everyday products, including fertilizers, medical equipment, electronics, building materials, plastics, asphalt and advanced composites. They are also essential for producing clothes, asphalt for paved roads, fertilizer to grow food, plastics (used in products including smartphones, contact lenses and computers), carbon fibre products for lighter aircraft and electric vehicles, and other innovative products that will help drive lower emissions.
• Canada’s energy sector has a critical role to play meeting the world’s growing demand for energy. Canadian production is subject to strong standards, transparent regulation and the rule of law, and can serve as an alternative to less stringent jurisdictions.

Canadian oil should be the preferred barrel

• Cenovus shares the world’s concerns about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Oil and gas companies need to be a part of the solution.
• Addressing climate change is essential, and it has to be done in a way that also preserves the strength of the Canadian economy and Canadians’ long-term access to secure supplies of affordable energy.
• Collaboration across industry is essential to improving environmental performance. Through initiatives that include the Oil Sands Alliance – Cenovus, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips, Imperial and Suncor Energy – we are advancing shared research and investments in environmental and emissions-reduction technologies, such as carbon capture and storage.

• We recognize our responsibility to support reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Our approach focuses on building respectful relationships and creating opportunities for meaningful economic participation in Canada.
• We partner with Indigenous businesses in Canada to create opportunities for providing goods and services that support our Canadian operations. 
• In addition, our Indigenous Housing Initiative helps address one of the most urgent challenges facing Indigenous communities across Canada.

• Canadian oil and natural gas producers compete for investment and market share with producers in jurisdictions that have varying regulatory and fiscal frameworks, approaches to emission reduction and costs associated with accessing global markets. More oil and gas production also means Canada is better able to provide the energy the world needs – energy from a secure, reliable source.
• Canada’s oil sands resources are among the most capital intensive globally, requiring policy stability and competitive returns to enable multi-decade investments.
• Cenovus believes that reforms focused on competitiveness can make Canada a more attractive destination for investment. Clear, consistent and efficient regulatory frameworks, alongside fiscal policies that attract investment, will allow Canada to compete for capital on a global stage, supporting economic growth and productivity.
• Alongside these competitiveness measures, improved market access would further strengthen Canada's investment climate for the oil and natural gas sector.
• Transportation constraints can limit oil and gas producer revenues, investment and employment across supply chains. Additional and diversified transportation capacity can help Canadian production reach markets where demand is strongest.
• Greater certainty, stronger investor confidence and wider market access would support sector growth, enhance economic resilience and generate benefits across Canada including additional royalty and tax revenues that help fund infrastructure, health care and education, benefiting all Canadians. 

Carbon pricing

• Cenovus is subject to industrial carbon-pricing requirements across its upstream and downstream operations in Canada.
• Industrial carbon-pricing systems in Canada are a unique cost among the world’s 10 largest oil-producing countries. In globally trade-exposed sectors, carbon pricing can shift investment and production to jurisdictions without comparable carbon emission costs, including jurisdictions with weaker environmental requirements.
• Carbon pricing can be effective when it is applied equitably on a global scale. When this is not feasible, carbon pricing can compromise the affordability, reliability, abundance and security of energy supplies, and the international competitiveness of sectors, such as oil and natural gas.
• In jurisdictions where carbon pricing systems exist, Cenovus believes companies should be able to use carbon-compliance costs to offset the costs of building and operating carbon reduction projects. This approach enables efficient capital allocation to carbon reduction initiatives in the sector.

Methane

• Canada was one of the first countries in the world to regulate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector at the national level. 
• Canada and Alberta have committed to regulations intended to achieve at least a 75% reduction in oil and gas methane emissions by 2035, relative to 2014 levels.
• Cenovus supports practical and achievable approaches to reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Requirements should be flexible, recognize operational realities and competitiveness, and be supported by effective incentives for early action.
• Cenovus supports effective coordination between federal and provincial governments on methane policy, with provinces retaining a central role in regulating methane emissions from oil and gas operations.

• Collaboration is important to improve the competitiveness and environmental performance of the Canadian oil sands operations. Independently and through the Oil Sands Alliance, Cenovus works on shared research and potential investments that improve operational efficiency, emissions reduction and other environmental technologies.
• The Oil Sands Alliance has entered a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the governments of Canada and Alberta. The MOU’s objectives are to expand market access, increase oil production and reduce emissions in the oil sands sector while maintaining commitments to Indigenous reconciliation.
• Cenovus is committed to working with our partners in the Oil Sands Alliance and the governments of Canada and Alberta to pursue the objectives of the MOU. The MOU represents a step forward and a shared willingness to work together to grow the oil sands sector for the benefit of all Canadians. 

• Cenovus views the environmental disclosure provisions added to Canada’s Competition Act in 2024 as a meaningful risk to communicating detailed environmental targets, performance and actions. Uncertainty regarding the interpretation and application of these provisions, as well as the potential magnitude of associated penalties, informs this view.
• In response, Cenovus has significantly reduced how we communicate about that work, though Cenovus’s intent and our approach to environmental action remain unchanged.
• While additional legislative amendments have been passed, the environmental disclosure provisions in Canada’s Competition Act remain in effect. Repealing these provisions would enable a return to more fulsome and transparent environmental disclosures.
• Cenovus stands behind the accuracy of its environmental reporting and the information it has shared about its environmental actions and performance.