Emissions management

Lowering our carbon footprint

At the core of our efforts to improve our environmental performance is emissions management. We are proud to have one of the lowest GHG emissions intensities in our Canadian peer group, and aspire to maintain our top-quartile performance. Our emissions management efforts focus on:

strategic evaluation of current and emerging technologies to proactively meet or exceed regulations (REDUCE)
electrification of our facilities (SHIFT)
generation of carbon credits and offsets to fund additional environmental initiatives (OFFSET)

Reduce: Clean technology

Clean technologies are critical to reducing our emissions. Technology pilot projects are evaluated based on operability, scalability, cost and overall impact to environmental performance.

To-date, we have implemented waste heat recovery, electricity optimization and lower carbon fuel and engine conversions. Through facility design, process optimization and retrofitting existing assets, we are making measurable improvements in our emissions performance. We are also focused on reducing methane emissions by implementing initiatives that reduce fuel consumption and target methane emissions from venting and fugitive sources.

Through enhanced facility designs and the application of new technologies, we reduced methane emissions by 20% relative to our 2019 baseline.

In 2022, our GHG emissions intensity was reduced by 8%.

Through electrification, we reduce our emissions by approximately 420,000 tCO₂e per year.

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Shift: Electrification

Our focus on electrification began in 2011, with the electrification of our Dawson I and II facilities. We have continued to electrify additional facilities, including a substation at our Sunrise and Parkland facilities. In 2023, we electrified our Dawson III and IV facilities which is anticipated to eliminate approximately 125,000 tCO₂e per year.

These projects were supported in part through funding by the Government of BC’s CleanBC Industry Fund. Electrification has contributed to our ability to deliver industry-leading, low-emissions production.

Through electrification, we avoid approximately 420,000 tCO₂e per year – the equivalent of taking 91,000 cars off the road.

Offset: Carbon credits

For emissions that cannot be eliminated or shifted, offsets are required to achieve low emissions. Our primary sources for carbon offsets are instrument air conversions, high-to-low bleed pneumatic conversions, waste heat recovery and electrification.

Revenue generated from carbon offsets is reinvested into additional emissions reduction projects to further improve performance.

In 2022, we reinvested $15.8 million in carbon offset revenues into clean technologies.

Methane management

Today, ARC has one of the lowest methane emissions intensities in our Canadian peer group. Through initiatives focused on reducing our instrument gas fuel consumption, fugitive emissions leaks, electrification and flaring optimization we will continue to improve our methane emissions performance.