Export Development Canada provided between $100 million and $200 million in project financing for the gas-fired plant that will power Meta's data centre in Sturgeon County, Alta., Canada's National Observer has discovered.

The federal Crown corporation, which is backstopped by Canadian taxpayers, lent the money on July 2 – the same day that Pembina, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management reached a final investment decision on the $4.6-billion project. Its involvement has not been previously reported and was not publicly announced. 

The Crown corporation is not financing the data centre itself, only the power plant. The plant is classified as Category A – a project that is “likely to have significant adverse environmental and social effects.”  

The gas plant, known as Greenlight, is predicted to generate up to 5.65 million tonnes of CO2 per year when it is fully built out. It was not required to undergo a comprehensive impact assessment by the federal government. 

Export Development Canada (EDC) classifies it as a utilities project, and says the financing aligns with its mandate to back “infrastructure that enables export capacity in data processing and digital services.”

“This project is designed to provide dedicated, dependable power for a major new development, helping reduce pressure on Alberta’s broader electricity grid,” EDC told Canada's National Observer.

A prominent Canadian environmental group told Canada's National Observer that the financing represents a “subsidy” to the fossil fuel industry.

“We're obviously concerned with this public financing,” said Julia Levin, associate director of national climate at Environmental Defence. She described it as "very risky for Albertans given the impacts of the data centre on electricity costs.” 

An EDC spokesperson told CNO that it operates at arm's length from the government and “does not provide grants or subsidies.”

A recent investigation by Canada's National Observer found that some power companies expect electricity prices in Alberta to triple due to data centre demand. Meta's data centre plans to begin drawing electricity from the province's grid in 2028, two years before the Greenlight gas plant is expected to begin generating.

In 2025, EDC scaled up its support for Canada's oil and gas industry to $9.3 billion, up by 22 per cent from 2024, according to its climate-related disclosure report.

The latest loan marks the second time in two years EDC has backed a Pembina gas project on the day of its final investment decision, after lending up to $500 million to the Haisla Nation- and Pembina-owned Cedar LNG terminal in B.C. in June 2024.

The Crown corporation's environmental, social and governance (ESG) advisory council includes Dave Collyer, the former president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers – an advocacy group for the oil industry.

EDC's financing of the gas project reflects a broader shift toward federal support for Canada's fossil fuel industry. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government has openly redirected Canada’s energy transition strategy to benefit the oil and gas sector, putting the emphasis on the new production-expanding pipelines, “low carbon” liquefied natural gas (LNG) export growth, and carbon capture and storage megaprojects, while removing emissions caps and weakening the country's industrial carbon tax.

Investment in these giant infrastructure developments – the total cost of which will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars – is coming through various sources linked to the public purse.

Canada's National Observer reported in early-July that aggressive lobbying by the pro-oil federal government was pushing Canadian pension funds to make massive capital wagers on Canadian LNG export infrastructure for the first time, despite major question marks hanging over the Asian LNG markets Ottawa is counting on for future sales.

The Pathways CCS project meanwhile is on track to be publicly funded at both ends. Federal tax credits and a promised Alberta grant program are set to cover 50 to 60 per cent of construction; now Ottawa has offered to sweeten its energy “grand bargain” with Alberta by using Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) credits to absorb the hundreds of millions a year it will cost to run.

And in its spring economic update, the government deferred taxes for LNG facilities that meet an emissions-intensity threshold and reclassified oil and gas projects using carbon capture to boost production as eligible for a 25 per cent investment tax credit.

EDC is not the only backer of the Greenlight power plant. On July 9, American giant Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners announced it had taken a 47.5 per cent stake in the project, joining Pembina Pipeline Corporation and Kineticor as the owners.