Canada 'not interested' in investing in LNG facilities, energy minister says

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada is not interested in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including electrification of projects currently in the works, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a television interview on Sunday.

Countries including Greece, Germany and Japan have expressed interest in purchasing Canada's LNG while the United States has paused expansion of American LNG exports.

"The government is opposed to using government money to fund inefficient fossil fuel subsidies... We are not interested in investing in LNG facilities," Wilkinson said on CTV. "That's the role of the private sector. They need to assess the business case and make the investments."

The minister said meeting a 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require that LNG production rely on clean electricity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's federal government have set targets to cut emissions of the gases by 2030 and requires new LNG proposals to also be net-zero emissions in the same time frame.

Trudeau has emphasized the economic difficulties for new projects of exporting LNG to Europe from Canada's Atlantic coast and the need to decarbonize the global energy supply to fight climate change.

U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to pause expansion of American LNG exports has raised pressure from environmental groups on British Columbia and Canada's governments to do the same, although following suit may be politically difficult.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; editing by Jonathan Oatis)