SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Attacks on the oil and gas sector are coming from all fronts. Celebrities, internet influencers, radical activist shareholders, banks,
ideologically driven financial alliances and well-funded non-profit organizations are all calling for “divestment” and promoting elimination
of the Canadian oil and gas sector in the next 25 years.
Suncor has continuously improved on emissions. Why commit to an arbitrary goal of Net Zero? Net Zero by 2050 means massive declines
in the use of coal, oil and gas. It commits to radical changes in very short timeframes. It is not legally required and has no clear connection
to increasing shareholder value. To pledge Net Zero by 2050 is asking shareholders to believe that eliminating our oil and gas sector will
somehow help Canada and reduce CO2 emissions. The facts suggest the opposite. In 2022, 82 per cent of the world’s primary energy needs
were met by oil, natural gas and coal.1 And, global demand for these fuels is increasing, not decreasing.
If the oil and gas the world wants and needs is not supplied by Canadian energy companies like Suncor, it will be supplied by authoritarian
regimes in poorly regulated, undemocratic countries that are less responsible and less environmentally friendly. Emissions will go up and
environmental performance will go down. There will be more hardship for everyday Canadians as our economy is hobbled, businesses and
industries shut down, people lose their jobs and energy poverty grows. All while watching the demand for oil and gas be supplied by
countries other than Canada. Why would Suncor and its shareholders want to commit to that?
As one of the largest and leading oil and gas companies in Canada2
, Suncor should be producing more oil and gas and getting it out to
more customers in Canada and around the world. And they should do this unapologetically. In the face of a supply-demand imbalance,
Suncor should create more oil and gas supply and reduce energy costs for Canadians and the world.
Oil and gas is central to Canada’s economy and prosperity. Nothing happens without oil and gas. The sector is essential for the functioning
of the economy, for jobs, for innovation, and, in fact, for global emission reductions. Canadians, from the hundreds of thousands who
work in the sector to the millions-all of us-who depend on it for essentially all aspects of life expect that Suncor Energy will put their
customers’ and shareholders’ interests ahead of the pursuit of a political goal like Net Zero by 2050. We believe Suncor Energy has an
economic and moral imperative to do so