News Canadian oil producers are facing renewed pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to cut emissions in just three years, and they must meet it. The sudden acceleration of their plans is seen as unrealistic by at least one major company. Suncor Energy, Canada’s second-largest crude producer, said it would remain focused on cutting emissions by 2023, rather than by 2025, as Trudeau and the Canadian government would require it to meet. “Quite frankly, 2025 is going to be tough,” Martha Hall Findlay, Suncor’s chief sustainability officer, told Reuters. “That’s not the number we use, that’s the number the feds use.” Trudeau’s expanded timetable for cutting the oil sector’s total emissions by 2025, announced last month, comes as the oil sector has been focused on longer-term targets, and on reducing emissions on a per-barrel basis. “That’s light speed for oil companies, which is tomorrow,” Kevin Birn, chief Canadian oil market analyst at consultancy IHS Markit, said of Trudeau’s demand. “They’re a very difficult ship to turn because they have so many emissions.” Ottawa previously had a national target of cutting emissions by at least 40% by 2030. But it did not single out the oil sector. Canada’s crude oil industry produces some of the highest emissions per barrel in the world. Suncor was the only major producer to lay out a plan in May to cut its total emissions by 2023, relying heavily on carbon capture, greener sources and energy efficiency. But Trudeau’s 2025 demand came as a surprise. “We obviously had conversations with the feds long before the budget came out last spring, long before the campaign,” Hall Findlay said. “None of those discussions mentioned 2025 at Suncor, we focused on 2030.” Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy, both of which have planned for months to unveil their emissions targets by the end of the year. Cenovus aims to reduce emissions both in absolute terms and per barrel, spokesman Reg Curren said. But he wouldn’t say whether the cuts would happen by 2025. Canadian Natural is working on “medium-term” targets linked to the Pathways carbon capture project with its partners, spokeswoman Julie Woo said. She wouldn’t say whether they would meet Trudeau’s 2025 requirements. Government and business need to spend C$60 billion a year to cut Canada’s emissions by 75% over the next 30 years, RBC Economics said. Canadian producers are expected to report strong quarterly earnings in the coming weeks as oil and gas prices have soared. Companies have prioritized paying down debt and returning cash to investors, but Trudeau wants producers to spend some of their profits on curbing emissions. He plans to unveil his new cabinet on Tuesday, just before the UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Ottawa wants to ensure there are ambitious emissions cuts from the oil and gas sector, which makes a meaningful contribution to Canada’s climate goals, said Joanna Sivasankaran, a spokeswoman for Canada’s environment department. Trudeau's 2025 goal is "ambitious for sure" and it would be more realistic to expect the sector to cut emissions sharply over the next decade, said Steve McDonalds, CEO of Alberta Emissions Reduction, a company funded by the provincial government.