Climate change is now the most serious global environmental threat.1 Its potential impacts include global warming, sea level rise, increased extreme weather events, and altered rainfall patterns. Climate change is a direct consequence of elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere and feedback mechanisms.
Since GHGs are emitted from fossil fuel burning, energy is the key policy category for tracking and analyzing climate change. The main challenge is to make economic growth less dependent on energy use and related air emissions, by improving energy efficiency and by developing and using cleaner fuels and low-emitting electricity sources.2
Canada is one of the world’s largest GHG emitters. Canada ranks 16th out of 17 OECD countries on GHG emissions per capita and scores a “D” grade.3 In 2005, Canada’s GHG emissions were 22.6 tonnes per capita, almost double the 17-country average of 12.4 tonnes per capita. Canada’s per capita GHG emissions were also almost four times greater than Norway’s, the top performer.
While Canada’s GHG emissions per capita have risen since 1990, Norway managed to decrease its GHG emissions per capita by 30 per cent between 1990 and 2005.
Despite international commitments to drastically reduce GHGs, Canada has not seen an improvement on its per capita GHG emissions. In 1992, Canada signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), under which it committed to stabilizing GHG emissions at 1990 levels by 2000. In 2000, however, Canada’s absolute GHG emissions were 30 per cent higher than they had been 10 years earlier.
Canada went on to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, pledging to reduce GHG emissions to 6 per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. When the Kyoto Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005, however, Canada’s absolute GHG emissions remained 54 per cent above 1990 levels.
One of the main reasons for the increase has been the growth in exports of petroleum, natural gas, and forest products. These commodities are exported, but the GHG emissions resulting from their production are not. Still, there is significant room for Canada to cut GHG emissions by increasing energy efficiency and using lower-emitting technologies.
To achieve its international commitments, Canada must make substantial GHG reductions now.
Use the drop-down menu to compare the change in Canada’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions with that of its peer countries.
The energy sector was responsible for 82 per cent of Canada’s total GHG emissions in 2005. Emissions from this sector come from combustion sources (such as electricity and heat generation, and fossil fuel industries), transportation (such as road transportation), and fugitive sources (such as coal mining, and oil and natural gas). Energy combustion is the largest of these sources, contributing 46 per cent of Canada’s total GHG emissions in 2005.4
In addition to the energy sector, industrial processes (such as the chemical industry), the waste sector (such as solid waste disposal on land), and agriculture generate a significant amount of GHG emissions in Canada.
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, the federal government initiated a national strategy in April 2007 called Turning the Corner. The strategy sets a national target of a 20 per cent reduction in GHGs from 2006 levels by 2020. To meet this target, the federal government will impose mandatory targets on industry. All large final-emitting industrial sectors will be required to reduce their emissions intensity from 2006 levels by 18 per cent by 2010, with 2 per cent continuous improvement every year after that. The GHG regulations for industrial emitters are only in the draft stage; final regulations are expected to be approved in the fall of 2009.
Canada is still lacking a national consensus on dealing with climate change. Yet while the Canadian political debate rages on, business, political, and environmental leaders in other countries are forming action plans. Canadians therefore need to get aligned—quickly—on the minimum fundamental requirements of a credible Canadian policy to fight climate change. In the view of The Conference Board of Canada, there are three basic elements to such a policy:
- being part of a comprehensive global approach
- providing clarity on attainable targets
- implementing the optimal mix of market-based policies
To understand how Canada can achieve significant reductions in global greenhouse gas production while sharing fairly the economic impact of adjustment:
A Canadian Climate Change Strategy: Getting the Basics Right, Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2007.
Canada’s Energy Future: An Integrated Path, Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2007.
In a report on the use of “green taxes,” the Conference Board argues that tax measures, coupled with market forces, will be key to the fight against climate change and the ability of Canadian firms to adjust. Green taxes and green investment tax credits are needed if Canadian firms are to accelerate their technological adaptation to a carbon-priced world. As a complement to green taxes, a cap and trade system should be implemented, combining regulation with market forces via emissions trading.
Use Green Taxes and Market Instruments to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2008.
1 Daniel C. Esty et. al., Pilot 2006 Environmental Index (New Haven: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, 2006).
2 OECD, Environment Directorate, OECD Key Environmental Indicators (Paris: Author, 2004).
3 Ranking calculations include the offset effects of land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF).
4 Environment Canada, National Inventory Report, 1990–2005: Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada, 2007, [online, cited August 20, 2008].