Pathways Alliance, a consortium of oil-sands producers, said it will spend $16.5 billion building a massive carbon-capture hub in northern Alberta (the price tag is up from an earlier estimate of $13 billion). The group plans to spend another $7.6 billion on other emissions-reducing technologies, spokesperson Mark Cooper said. (The Logic)

Talking point: Pathways, which includes six major companies accounting for 95 per cent of Canada’s bitumen production, hopes to reach net-zero emissions at their sites by 2050. Taxpayers could be asked to cover half of the upfront construction costs to build the $16.5-billion hub, which will offtake emissions from as many as 20 oil-sands projects and sequester the carbon south of Fort McMurray, Alta. The consortium said it has begun early engineering on the project and has initiated discussions with nearby Indigenous communities. Overall, oil-sands companies expect it will cost $75 billion to reach its net-zero targets, a big chunk of which will go toward carbon-capture technology. Pathways is testing other technologies for “later parts of the plan,” Cooper said.