The Order Declaring that the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector) Do Not Apply in Alberta, 2025 formalizes the continuation of an equivalency arrangement between the federal government and the Province of Alberta. Registered as SOR/2025-213 under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), the order exempts Alberta from the direct application of federal methane emission regulations, recognizing that the province’s own framework achieves equivalent environmental outcomes.

This renewal ensures continuity and avoids overlapping regulatory requirements for oil and gas operators, who would otherwise be subject to both provincial and federal methane reduction standards. The order states that the federal regulations will not apply in Alberta except for federal works or undertakings, and it will remain valid until the equivalency agreement terminates or expires.

The background to this order lies in the federal government’s 2018 methane regulations, which took effect on January 1, 2020. These federal rules established standards for the upstream oil and gas sector to control fugitive and vented emissions, a key source of greenhouse gases. Alberta, however, had already enacted its own comparable regime through the Alberta Energy Regulator’s Directive 060 and Directive 017, supported by the Methane Emission Reduction Regulation. These provincial laws introduced similar limits and monitoring requirements, and their effectiveness led to the first equivalency agreement in 2020, which allowed Alberta to regulate methane emissions independently while achieving federally acceptable results.

CEPA permits such arrangements where a province can demonstrate that its environmental laws are equivalent to federal requirements and include similar provisions for investigating environmental offences. Each agreement can last up to five years and can be terminated by either party with three months’ notice.

Analysis by Environment and Climate Change Canada confirmed that Alberta’s methane reduction measures produce outcomes equivalent to, and slightly exceeding, those of the federal rules. Using modelling from the federal government’s 2018 emissions reference case, Alberta’s regulations are projected to cut methane emissions by 38.68 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between 2025 and 2029, compared with 37.77 megatonnes under the federal regulations—a difference of 0.91 megatonnes, or 2.4%, in Alberta’s favor. These findings confirm that the province’s program meets the equivalency threshold under CEPA.

Canada (213/2025) November 11, 2025
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