The Canadian government will soon launch a procurement for C$10mn ($7mn) of carbon removal credits to help offset its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The government will announce a set of "competitive standing offers" for carbon removal services "in the coming days", said Jackie Mercer, program manager for Canada's GHG offset system at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
"It's a really important signal that the government is doing early action to support the advancement of these technologies and help them scale up", she said.
The launch could include up to 25 competitive standing offers covering five technology streams, Mercer said during an event at the UN Cop 31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey. The technologies include direct air capture, bioenergy with carbon storage and enhanced carbon mineralization.
The procurement will be overseen by the federal Treasury Board Secretariat.
The government hopes the procurement will support the development of carbon removal projects in Canada.
The government first announced its intent to buy carbon removal credits in 2024. At the time it said it would buy the credits over a five-year period.
Canada's federal government is seeking to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions by 40pc by 2025 and by at least 90pc from 2005 levels by 2050. Scope 1 emissions are direct GHG emissions from operations, while scope 2 are from electricity purchases.
Canada plans to utilize CO2 removal to balance any remaining operational GHG emissions to meet its scope 1 net-zero target.

