“It’s a positive step forward, but it takes place at a moment when Canada is taking several leaps backward on climate,” says CAPE president Dr. Samantha Green

Ottawa | Traditional, Unceded Territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People | December 16, 2025 — In reaction to today’s new federal methane regulations, the President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Dr. Samantha Green, said the measures represent overdue progress on a critical climate and public health file, while also reflecting years of delay and a troubling retreat from previously stated ambition.

“Methane is a super-pollutant with serious consequences for both climate stability and human health,” Dr. Green said. “Every year of delay, and every percentage point of weakened ambition, translates into avoidable harm, particularly for communities already bearing the health burden of fossil fuel extraction.”

Moving these regulations forward after years of promised federal action is preferable to continued delay. But today’s announcement falls short of the federal government’s previous international commitment — announced two years ago at COP28 — to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by 75 per cent by 2030. The new regulations lower the target to 72 per cent.

Methane is a powerful climate pollutant and a major driver of near-term warming. It is also closely linked to harmful co-pollutants that worsen respiratory and cardiovascular disease, particularly for communities living near oil and gas operations and landfills. Stronger methane rules are among the fastest and most effective actions governments can take to protect health. The federal government estimates its new methane rules are projected to yield $257 million in health benefits.

Progress on methane is welcome, but it cannot be used to obscure broader backsliding on climate policy, particularly as Canada is now on track to miss its 2030 emissions targets.

“CAPE is concerned about ongoing policy uncertainty,” Dr. Green said. “The Alberta–Canada memorandum of understanding (MoU) effectively proposes to weaken or eliminate various key elements of Canada’s climate policy, while expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. This helps contextualize today’s announcement: it’s a positive step forward, but it takes place at a moment when Canada is taking several leaps backward on climate.”

Approving new liquified natural gas (LNG) major projects like Ksi Lisims in September and incentivizing new oil pipelines stemming from the MoU drives additional methane production and leakage, calling into question claimed climate gains and exposing nearby communities to additional health risks.

“As physicians, we are calling on the federal government to build on its methane commitments by front loading abatement work, while ensuring that climate policy decisions are driven first and foremost by the health of people and our environment,” Dr. Green said.

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Note to editors

*Ksi Lisims is a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project on the northwest coast of British Columbia. From a climate and health perspective, projects like Ksi Lisims are significant because new LNG infrastructure locks in decades of additional methane emissions across the full supply chain, from extraction to processing to transport.

About CAPE

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is a physician-directed non-profit organization working to secure human health by protecting the planet. Since its founding in 1994, CAPE’s work has achieved substantial policy victories in collaboration with many partners in the environmental and health movements. From coast to coast to coast, the organization operates throughout the country with regional committees active in most provinces and all territories. cape.ca

Media contact

Loujain Kurdi and Megan Wilde
Communications Managers | Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
647-762-9168
media@cape.ca