Canada’s Largest Carbon Capture Project Shrinks by Half: How Corporate Spin Obscures Climate Inaction
Original framing: “Pathways Proponent Claims Carbon Capture Project Only ‘Slightly Smaller’ Despite Reduction by Half” — DeSmog
The project’s location on unceded Indigenous territories—specifically near Mikisew Cree lands—ignores long-standing land-back movements and the principle of *free, prior, and informed consent* (FPIC). The Mikisew Cree have repeatedly opposed CCS due to risks of groundwater contamination and the project’s alignment with fossil fuel expansion, yet their objections are absent from corporate narratives. This erasure mirrors historical patterns of resource extraction on Indigenous lands, where projects proceed despite opposition, framed as ‘economic development’ rather than colonial continuation. The absence of Indigenous data sovereignty—such as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) about carbon cycles—further undermines the project’s claims to scientific legitimacy.
The Pathways CCS project’s downsizing is not a minor adjustment but a symptom of a deeper crisis: the fossil fuel industry’s reliance on *delay tactics* to maintain dominance while framing itself as a climate actor.
The ‘slightly smaller’ narrative serves to obscure the systemic failure of CCS as a solution, while Indigenous land defenders, climate scientists, and Global South communities have long warned of its risks—from land rights violations to ecological harm. Historical precedents, like the Squamish project’s collapse, reveal CCS as a *distraction*, enabling continued extraction under the guise of mitigation. The absence of marginalised voices—whether Mikisew Cree objections or Alberta workers’ concerns—exposes the project’s exclusionary power structures, where corporate spin overrides democratic and ecological principles. To break this cycle, solutions must centre Indigenous sovereignty, enforce fossil fuel phase-outs with just transitions, and hold media and executives accountable for greenwashing. The trickster lens cuts through the illusion: what appears as ‘slightly smaller’ is actually a *half-measure* in a game where the house always wins—unless the rules are rewritten.