The sun may not be green, but it turns out to be adept at recycling.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured the clearest view yet of solar material billowing away from the sun before some of it makes a “U-turn,” falling back toward the star…
The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action against a vegetable farm in Victoria for allegedly underpaying 28 migrant workers more than $645,000.
Facing court is Bulmer Farms Pty Ltd, which produces vegetables including lettuce, spinach and broccoli in Lindenow, in the East Gippsland region.
The Fair Work Ombudsman investigated Bulmer Farms after receiving a referral from the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
It is alleged that the investigation discovered that Bulmer Farms underpaid 28 migrant workers from Kiribati, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands a total of $645,567, including $8,964 in unlawful deductions from their wages.
It is alleged that the main cause of the underpayment was Bulmer Farms paying the workers set weekly amounts based on annualised salaries, irrespective of the hours they worked, which failed to cover their entitlements under the Horticulture Award 2010 and 2020.
Bulmer Farms had engaged the workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. The workers were engaged in a range of roles, ranging from farm workers, to forklift and tractor operators.
The alleged underpayments occurred between December 2019 and December 2023.
It is alleged the workers were paid flat amounts ranging from $884 to $1,105 per week for a 38 hour week, but more than half of the time were required to work more than 38 hours per week.
This allegedly resulted in underpayment of their minimum ordinary hourly rates, overtime rates, and public holiday work.
In 7 per cent of cases, workers were allegedly required to work more than 50 hours per week.
It is alleged that 40 per cent of the overall underpayment to workers related to entitlements to overtime rates. It is alleged that Bulmer Farms also underpaid various leave entitlements, public holiday pay and minimum-engagement pay, and made unlawful deductions from wages relating to airfares, accommodation, and health insurance.
Bulmer Farms allegedly also breached record-keeping and pay slip laws and unlawfully requested or required some workers to perform unreasonable hours in excess of 38 hours per week.
Alleged individual underpayments range from $1,500 to more than $39,000.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the alleged scale of the underpayment of vulnerable migrant workers meant litigation was appropriate.
“The alleged underpayments of migrant workers by Bulmer Farms across four years was entirely unacceptable, and we will be pursuing penalties to hold the company to account,” Ms Booth said.
“Employees must be paid for every hour they work. We’ve been calling this issue out for years – the law demands that workers are paid for the actual hours they work and employers cannot rely on default annualised salary-based payments if they have not factored in all entitlements for any extra hours worked.
“Employers engaging in this conduct are at high risk of facing legal action in addition to being left with a substantial back-payment bill.
“Employers also need to be aware that taking action to protect migrant workers and improve compliance in the agriculture industry are among our top priorities.”
The FWO is seeking penalties against Bulmer Farms Pty Ltd for multiple alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act. The company faces penalties of up to $93,900 per breach.
Bulmer Farms conducted an internal review during the FWO’s investigation and made payments of $42,189 to the workers. The Fair Work Ombudsman is also seeking court orders requiring the company to rectify the alleged underpayments in full, plus interest and superannuation.
A directions hearing is listed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne on 21 January 2026.
Migrant workers have the same rights and protections under the Fair Work Act as other employees in Australia, and protections exist for their visa if they call out any breaches. Information for migrant workers, including on protections for visas, is available at our visa holders and migrants webpage.
The FWO has a dedicated PALM scheme webpage which includes general information about workplace rights and entitlements, and links to relevant resources, including translated resources. Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace.
A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Employees can also seek information from their employer or their union, if they are a member.
Employers can seek information from their employer association if they are a member, and also use the FWO’s pay calculator and Small Business Showcase.
The Fair Work Ombudsman filed 171 litigations against employers involving visa holder workers, and secured $39 million in penalties in cases that have included visa holder workers, in the eight financial years to June 2025.
The FWO has a Horticulture Showcase online, with resources for employers and employees in the sector. It includes information on pay and piece rates, and keeping the right records. The FWO also offers an Employer Advisory Service with tailored, written advice for employers.
Workplace issues can be reported online anonymously, including in languages other than English. Employees can also seek information from their union, if they are a member, or from their employer. Employers can seek information from their employer association if they are a member.
With the House settlement taking full effect this year, universities across the country can now share up to $20.5 million (increasing 4% annually) with student-athletes. This marks a historic shift in how institutions support the…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The 2025 NAIA Women’s Volleyball All-America Teams, as well as the 2025 NAIA Player of the Year, Attacker of the Year, Defender of the Year and Coach of…
Bang the drums. Here comes the parade of but nows…
Who? Well, with conference play soon taking the floor in college basketball, it brings to mind all those preseason league polls back in October that were good signs for some, not so good for…
2021 British Columbia Floods and Extreme Weather Event
The Canadian Red Cross is providing extra help for households affected by the 2021 British Columbia Floods and Extreme Weather event. The Canadian Red Cross is offering a one-time payment to support recovery efforts and toward holiday expenses for those impacted.
Who is eligible:
Households who registered and received assistance during the 2021 British Columbia Floods and Extreme Weather event.
Households eligible for this assistance will be contacted by the Red Cross directly by email or by phone.
Want to learn more:
Visit redcross.ca/2021BCFloods for details about this support and eligibility.
If you have questions you can call 1-800-863-6582 from Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, closed weekends and statutory holidays.
Canada’s strategic actions to reduce methane emissions over the last decade have led to significant reductions in methane emissions from oil and gas sectors while supporting Canada’s climate competitiveness in global energy markets.
Enhanced Oil and Gas Methane Regulations
Reducing methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective ways to fight climate change and protect the environment and the air we breathe. Canada’s strategic actions to reduce methane emissions over the last decade have led to significant reductions in methane emissions from oil and gas sectors while supporting Canada’s climate competitiveness in global energy markets. These efforts have supported job opportunities for Canadian workers and communities while attracting investments in emerging made-in-Canada clean technologies. Taking action on methane helps position Canada as an attractive and responsible global energy supplier as investors, insurers, and markets increasingly value good methane performance.
Innovative and affordable methane abatement solutions from Canada’s clean tech sector and its workers are readily available today and will enable the oil and gas sector to reduce methane emissions while providing good jobs.
The publication of the final Enhanced Methane Regulations in December 2025 follows extensive consultation and engagement with provinces, industry, experts, workers, Indigenous peoples, and other interested stakeholders. In the coming months, Environment and Climate Change Canada will lead further discussions to develop guidance documents to support the regulations’ implementation. Canada has successfully entered into equivalency agreements on methane in oil and gas with British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan since 2020. Moving forward, Canada will work to advance new equivalency agreements with interested jurisdictions, including Alberta, as outlined in the November 27, 2025, Canada–Alberta Memorandum of Understanding.
Key details
These regulations are formally known as The Regulations Amending the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector).
In 2018, Canada became one of the first countries to put in place regulations to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas for both new and existing facilities. Since then, they have reduced methane emissions while Canadian oil production grew by approximately 10% and gas production grew by approximately 11%. Oil and gas extraction revenues increased by 72% from 2018–2024. Federal emissions data shows that Canada is on track to achieve the 2018 regulations’ target of 40–45% methane reduction with equivalency agreements in place.
The Enhanced Methane Regulations expand the coverage and stringency of the 2018 methane regulations, leading to further reduction of oil and gas methane emissions. The Enhanced Methane Regulations are designed to protect the environment and human health from the threat of climate change by significantly reducing this potent greenhouse gas. They also support innovation, leading to increased adoption of new technologies like continuous monitoring systems to monitor methane releases.
The Enhanced Methane Regulations demonstrate to other oil- and gas-producing nations that cost-effective and substantial methane emission reductions are possible. As the world’s fifth largest natural gas producer and fourth largest oil producer and the co-convener of the Global Methane Pledge, Canada can lead the way toward stronger global action to reduce this dangerous greenhouse gas.
Costs associated with the Enhanced Methane Regulations are not expected to be passed through to households and small businesses, as oil and gas prices are generally set by global and regional markets.
New federal requirements to reduce methane
The Enhanced Methane Regulations applies to upstream production, processing, and transmission facilities in Canada’s onshore oil and gas sector. This includes centralized production sites, well sites, gas plants, and pipelines. They do not apply to the offshore oil and gas industry or downstream sites.
Figure 1: Oil and Gas Sector
Long description
Facility type
Covered by Enhanced Methane Regulations
Offshore oil production
No
Gas production
Yes
Oil production
Yes
Oil refinery
No
Gas processing plant
Yes
Fuel terminal
No
Transmission facility
Yes
Liquified natural gas facility
Yes
Municipal gas distribution
No
The Enhanced Methane Regulations expand the coverage and stringency of the 2018 methane regulations and focuses on maximizing practical and cost-effective emissions reductions within the oil and gas sector. One key change from the 2018 methane regulations is that the Enhanced Methane Regulations provide oil and gas operators with two compliance pathways:
The first option requires specific work practices to prohibit venting, with several exceptions, and establishes an inspection schedule to find leaks and repair them.
The second option allows operators to design their own approaches to controlling methane on the condition that they meet, at a facility level, methane intensity thresholds that are on par with standards from leading international voluntary certification programs. This pathway allows operators more flexibility to implement methane reduction solutions and is contingent on operators undertaking robust methane monitoring.
The regulations will be phased in starting on January 1, 2028, and will spur investments to reduce methane emissions that will help position the Canadian oil and gas industry amongst top performers for producing low-methane intensity products and supporting long-term success in a technologically advanced, decarbonizing industry.
Production forecasts under theEnhanced Methane Regulations
The Government of Canada’s macroeconomic analysis suggests that overall, the oil and gas sector is expected to see continued production growth in Canada under the Enhanced Methane Regulations. Oil and gas production is projected to grow by over 17% from 2019–2030 with the Enhanced Methane Regulations in effect. This analysis estimates a 0.2% impact on production over the 2025–2035 timeframe and estimated gross domestic product (GDP) impacts of only 0.01% over the 2025–2035 period.
Figure 2: Oil and Gas production Growth 2025-2035
Long description
Year
Baseline scenario
Regulatory scenario
2025
19,811.27
19,811.26
2026
20,192.36
20,192.66
2027
20,293.72
20,272.49
2028
20,432.13
20,407.98
2029
20,777.36
20,744.64
2030
21,099.15
21,022.17
2031
21,115.39
21,068.06
2032
21,048.91
20,988.55
2033
21,270.41
21,201.87
2034
21,448.22
21,365.13
2035
21,519.89
21,425.72
Total 2025–2035
229,008.82
228,500.53
Climate, health, and economic benefits
The Enhanced Methane Regulations will deliver cumulative reductions of 304 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) from 2028–2040, as a key policy to deliver deeper emissions reductions beyond the 40–45% (from 2012) that have been achieved to date.
From 2028–2040, the Enhanced Methane Regulations are expected to cost the oil and gas sector an average cost of $48 per tonne of CO2e reduced, making this one of the lowest cost opportunities to drive significant progress on our climate goals. The Enhanced Methane Regulations also enable the diversion of methane—the main component of natural gas—from becoming a pollutant that harms human health and the environment to being an economically valuable good. It is estimated the Enhanced Methane Regulations will support the conservation of a considerable amount of natural gas (705 petajoules, which has a market value of $2 billion) through emissions reductions (abatement) approaches in these regulations. This is enough natural gas energy conserved between 2028–2040 to heat over 11 million Canadian homes for a year.
The Government of Canada estimated the net benefits of the regulations to be $23.9 billion over the 2028–2040 period from avoided climate change impacts and by cutting air pollutant emissions known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This will reduce health impacts for Canadians living near oil and gas activities, yielding a total estimated $257 million in health benefits. VOC emissions contribute directly to ambient concentrations of toxic substances such as benzene, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and ground-level ozone. Reduction of harmful VOCs are expected to result in fewer premature deaths, reduce symptoms among asthmatics, and prevent crop losses due to ozone damage.
The regulations will create conditions for clean technology companies that specialize in methane reduction solutions and employ a variety of skilled labourers across Canada. Since 2018, when Canada’s first oil and gas methane regulations were finalized, this sector has grown to 136 companies in Canada. An independent estimate suggests that actions companies take to comply with the regulations would create approximately 34,000 jobs in Canada from 2027–2040.
Working with provinces
The Government of Canada recognizes the important role of provincial governments in reducing methane from their oil and gas sectors. The release of the Enhanced Methane Regulations builds on a history of federal–provincial collaboration on methane.
Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, equivalency is a regulatory process initiated by provinces or territories which compares federal and provincial regulations to determine whether provincial regulations meet the requirements to stand in for federal regulations. The development of an equivalency agreement requires that the provincial regime meets or exceeds federal emission reduction outcomes.
Since 2020, equivalency agreements have been in place in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and these agreements have all been renewed within the past year. These agreements stand down the 2018 federal oil and gas methane regulations in favour of provincial systems that achieve similar results.
The Government looks forward to working with provinces to consider updating the equivalency agreements on the basis of the final Enhanced Methane Regulations. As noted in the Canada–Alberta Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2025, both governments will work to finalize an equivalency agreement on oil and gas methane by April 1, 2026.
Budget 2025 committed to remove the mandatory five-year limits for equivalency agreements under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. This could allow Environment and Climate Change Canada to adopt a longer-duration equivalency agreement with Alberta or other interested jurisdictions.
Indigenous focus
The Government of Canada’s Enhanced Methane Regulations support healthier air quality for Indigenous communities near oil and gas infrastructure, contributing to meeting Canada’s responsibilities under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UN Declaration). The UN Declaration, an international human rights instrument, sets out minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of Indigenous peoples. These regulations will help advance this commitment by enhancing environmental protections through the reduction of methane emissions from the upstream oil and gas sector. Indigenous partners were consulted throughout the development of the Enhanced Methane Regulations, and some welcomed the regulations as they support cleaner air in their communities.
Global actions on methane emissions
Canada’s approach is broadly aligned to major oil- and gas-producing states such as Colorado, New Mexico, and California. Currently, these states have oil and gas methane rules to eliminate routine venting and flaring, enhance leak detection and repair, and address other potentially large releases.
Globally, other oil and gas producing countries—including Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia—are moving to implement methane regulations, and China recently announced its intent to develop a methane plan.
In May 2024, the European Union, the world’s largest oil and gas importer, approved new stringent import standards on natural gas to take effect in 2030. These standards will apply border penalties on new oil and gas products, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), entering the European Union with methane intensity above a threshold yet-to-be-determined.
In June 2025, Japan announced strengthened efforts to increase transparency of imported LNG emissions. South Korea is also considering similar measures and have already taken steps to improve supply chain transparency for exporting countries. Importers representing more than half of South Korea’s and Japan’s LNG imports have signed on to the CLEAN initiative, signaling they will prefer LNG produced cleanly. Asia represents an important market for Canada’s west coast LNG terminals. In June 2025, LNG Canada delivered its first cargo of LNG from Kitimat, British Columbia, to Asia, marking a major milestone in Canada’s clean energy diversification.
Significant global efforts to reduce methane emissions are underway. The first Global Methane Status Report released in November 2025 shows that although total methane emissions are still increasing, they are growing more slowly since the Global Methane Pledge was launched in 2021. The report projects a 10% slower growth rate by 2030.
The Enhanced Methane Regulations will help ensure that Canadian oil and gas are low methane, which is increasingly in demand around the world. According to the International Energy Agency, major oil and gas producers around the world have already set low methane emissions objectives. Canada’s enhanced methane regulations will bring more sector participants to the standard set by leading companies and voluntary certification programs.
Reducing methane emissions was a key topic at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), where countries further raised ambitions to tackle this potent climate warming greenhouse gas. Reducing methane emissions is the “low-hanging fruit” that will slow climate change in the next decade, providing valuable time to target other sources of greenhouse gases that are harder to reduce.
Landfill Methane Regulations
The Landfill Methane Regulations apply to certain privately and municipally owned landfills that have received municipal solid waste.
When organic waste—such as food, yard waste, and paper products—is disposed in landfills, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. This process takes place over many years, which means that the methane generated in landfills today is the result of past decades of organic waste disposal. By installing landfill gas management systems, methane can be recovered before it can be emitted to the atmosphere. The recovered landfill gas is either flared (burned) or can be used to create low-carbon energy.
The Landfill Methane Regulations will reduce methane emissions from landfills through a performance-based approach that sets surface methane concentration limits and requires regular monitoring to confirm these limits are being met and identify and repair methane leaks.
The Landfill Methane Regulations apply to landfills that:
Disposed of any quantity of municipal solid waste after January 1, 2010, and have more than 450,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste-in-place
Disposed of more than 20,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2025 or any subsequent calendar year and have more than 200,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste-in-place
The Landfill Methane Regulations do not apply to landfills or distinct portions of a landfill that are under final cover and ceased to accept waste before January 1, 2010, or to landfills that have received only the following types of waste:
Hazardous waste
Non-biodegradable waste
Waste produced from forest products operations
Construction and demolition waste
Timelines and requirements
For landfills exceeding the methane generation thresholds, requirements to control methane will first apply in:
2028 for landfills that have 1,000 tonnes or more methane generation and have existing landfill gas recovery systems
2029 for landfills that have 1,000 tonnes or more methane generation and do not have existing systems
2035 for landfills that have 664 tonnes or more but less than 1,000 tonnes methane generation
Requirements include:
Prohibition on venting landfill gas and requirement that recovered methane must be destroyed or used
Limits on methane concentration at the surface of the landfill and regular monitoring to confirm these limits are met and conduct repairs where limits are exceeded
Monitoring of equipment and wellfields to identify and repair methane leaks
Engagement and consultation
Stakeholders, provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, industries, and non-governmental organizations were engaged throughout the regulatory development process to seek views on the design of the Landfill Methane Regulations.
