Prime Minister Mark Carney’s June meeting with energy executives was billed as a conversation about economic opportunity and developing Canada into an “energy superpower.” But lobbying records reveal what industry leaders really wanted to discuss: dismantling key pieces of Canada’s climate plan.

Throughout May and June 2025, oil and gas companies lobbied Carney and his ministers not just about economic issues like U.S. tariffs, but about several climate policies from the Emissions Reduction Plan—targeting regulations on clean fuels, electricity, methane, and the proposed emissions cap. Companies including Imperial Oil, Enbridge, and Tourmaline Oil communicated with government officials, with more than half of the lobbying records involving messaging about the climate plan or its components.

This lobbying blitz comes as the oil and gas sector accounts for almost one-third of Canada’s national emissions, which have surged 77 percent since 1990 due to massive oil sands expansion. Climate advocates worry that industry voices are drowning out the needs of Canadians facing worsening wildfires, heat waves, and air pollution.

Read the full story: Carney touted oil and gas ‘partnerships.’ CEOs wanted to talk Trudeau’s climate plan

Image credit: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer joins Mark Carney in Royal Oak Pub” by Number 10, CC BY 2.0