December 11, 2007

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Home > GHG Inventory > Summary

Canada's 2004 Greenhouse gas inventory
A Summary of Trends

Background on the National GHG Inventory

As an Annex I Party (Developed Countries) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Canada is required on an annual basis to prepare and submit a national inventory of anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gases not included in the Montreal Protocol. Canada has been submitting a complete inventory annually for over a decade, building on 15 years experience. The inventory must meet international reporting guidelines and quality standards and is reviewed annually by a UN Expert Review Team.

In addition, Annex I Parties are required to continuously improve the quality of their national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. As new information and data become available, and more accurate methods developed, previous estimates are updated to provide a consistent and comparable trend in emissions and removals.

Explanation of the Changes for 2004

Primary contributors to the revised 1990-2003 national GHG estimates are the following:

• Studies in upstream oil and gas and oil refining industries
• Updates in Statistics Canada's underlying energy data for 2003
• Adoption of improved, country-specific methodologies and factors for agricultural soils nitrous oxide emissions, and
• Major revision of the estimation model for emissions from landfills

As a result, total GHG emissions (without Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) previously reported for 1990 have been revised upward from 596¹ Mt to 599 Mt, while emission estimates previously reported for 2003 have been revised upward from 740 Mt to 754 Mt. The overall impact of these changes is that emission growth over the period 1990-2003, previously reported to be 24.2%, is now estimated to be 25.9%.

2004 GHG Emission Trends

• Total GHG emissions in Canada in 2004, expressed as "CO₂ equivalent," (CO₂eq) were 758 Mt which represents a 0.6 percent increase over the 2003 total of 754 Mt and a 26.6 percent increase over the 1990 total of 599 Mt and 34.6 percent above the Kyoto target of 563 Mt. The increase from 2003 to 2004 was small primarily due to significantly reduced emissions from electricity production (less coal and more nuclear power), and a reduced demand for heating fuel due to warmer weather.
• Between 2003 and 2004, emissions from most sectors were up. Industrial Processes, Solvent and Other Product Use, Agriculture and Waste were up by 8.3 percent, 0.9 percent, 4.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. On the other hand, Energy Sector emissions actually showed a decrease of 0.4 percent, the first since the 1990-1991 period. This minimized overall growth. The Energy Sector decrease was due primarily to lower emissions from electricity, on the basis of increased nuclear availability and reduced coal generation.
• Between 1990 and 2004, significant growth in oil and gas production, much of which has been provided to the United States has resulted in a dramatic increase in the emissions associated with the production and transportation of fuel for export. In 2004, net emissions associated with these exports were 47.8 Mt, a 123 percent increase over the 1990 level of 21.5 Mt.

A summary of the emissions by major sector is provided in the accompanying tables.

1 GHG emissions are expressed as megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂eq) unless noted.

¹ National totals exclude all GHGs from the Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry Sector. CO₂ from agricultural soils and non-CO₂ emissions from forest fires, which were previously included in national totals, are now excluded.
² Due to ROUNDING values may not sum to totals. Percent Change is based on UNROUNDED values.
NE - Not Estimated

Long Term Comparisons by Sector: 1990-2004

Sector Trends

• Between 1990 and 2004, the net increase in Canada's annual GHG emissions totaled about 159 Mt. Over the same period, emissions from the Energy Industries and Transportation subsector increased by 138 Mt, accounting for most of the overall increase.
• Within these two energy subsectors, the greatest contributors to the overall increase were the 36.6 percent increase in emissions from the Electricity and Heat Generation subsector (34.9 Mt), and a 29.9 percent increase from Vehicles (39.1 Mt). Petroleum industries also contributed significantly, with a total increase in GHG emissions of 58.9 percent between 1990 and 2004. Much of the increase in the petroleum industries sector is attributable to the rapid growth in crude oil and natural gas exports to the United States over the period.
• Industrial Processes, Agriculture and Waste sectors contributed to emissions growth noting increases of 1.0, 10.1, and 4.0 Mt, respectively since 1990.

Energy Industries

• Emissions from Energy Industries (including Fossil Fuel Industries, Electricity and Heat Generation, Mining, fugitive releases and combustion emissions from pipelines) rose by about 94.7 Mt between 1990 and 2004. Almost 37 percent of that increase (34.9 Mt) was in Electricity and Heat Generation, a result of greater electricity demand coupled with continuing increases in the use of coal-fired generation over the period.
• Fugitive releases (e.g. methane leaks from pipelines) contributed just as significantly to GHG emissions. The current estimates show an increase of 23.1 Mt between 1990 and 2004, a growth of about 53.4 percent. Much of this increase is the result of higher crude oil and natural gas exports to the United States.

Transportation Sector

• Emissions in the Transportation sector rose by about 44.5 Mt, or 29.9 percent from 1990 to 2004. Of particular note in this sector is a 21.9 Mt or over 100 percent increase in the emissions from light-duty gasoline trucks, reflecting the growing popularity of sport utility vehicles.
• Emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles increased 20.4 Mt over the period, indicative of greater heavy truck transport. Offsetting these increases were reductions in emissions attributed to gasoline and alternatively fueled cars of 4.0 Mt and 1.3 Mt respectively.

Industrial Processes Sector

• Emissions in the Industrial Processes Sector witnessed a modest overall increase of 1.0 Mt, or 1.9 percent from 1990 to 2004. However, though some subsectors within this group did show significant increases (e.g., emissions from use of HFCs in refrigeration and air conditioning, as substitutes to Ozone Depleting Substances, grew by 4.7 Mt and the use of primary and secondary fuel as feedstocks in chemical manufacturing grew 3.5 Mt), there were some significant reductions offsetting these.
• Emissions of N₂O from Canada's sole adipic acid manufacturing plant decreased by 7.6 Mt due to the installation of N₂O abatement technology. Also, process emissions from the aluminium industry decreased by 2.0 Mt, or 21.8% from 1990 to 2004, due to improved PFC emission control technologies.

Agriculture Sector

• In the Agriculture Sector, the expansion of the beef cattle, swine, and poultry industries, along with increases in the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer in the Prairies resulted in a long term emission growth of 10.1 Mt (22.6 percent increase for the Agriculture Sector, contributing 6.3 percent to the overall increase)

Waste Sector

• From 1990 to 2004, GHG emissions from Waste increased by about 4.0 Mt, or 15.9 percent, surpassing the population growth of 15.3%. This appears largely due to the generation of increasing amounts of land filled waste. This increase would have been larger, had the land fill gas recovery projects and waste diversion programs (composting and recycling) not been implemented in Canada.

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Sector (not included in national totals)

• The LULUCF Sector reports GHG emissions and removals between the atmosphere and Canada's managed lands (forests, cropland, wetlands and settlements), as well as those associated with land-use changes. According to international guidelines, LULUCF estimates are not added to the national totals. This year, due to major changes in the methodologies, most LULUCF categories present completely revised and improved estimates for the entire time series. As in previous submissions however, the overall trend over time remains uncertain due to the very high inter-annual variability in GHG estimates over the reporting period. In 2004, the net flux from this sector amounted to net emissions of 81 Mt. The net sectoral GHG balance and trend are largely driven by emissions and removals in managed forests, and notably the inter-annual variability due to the immediate impact of wildfires. Such fires alone accounted for annual emissions between 14 and 342 Mt over the 1990-2004 period.
• The Cropland subsector includes the effect of agricultural practices on CO₂ emissions and removals from arable soils and the impact of forest and grassland conversion to cropland. In 2004, C sequestration in arable soils almost exactly offset emissions from lands converted to cropland, for a net flux of 0.06 Mt. The continued adoption of no-till and reduced tillage practices, and the reduction of summer-fallow explain the steady trend of increasing removals in cultivated soils.
• Forest losses to cropland, wetlands, and settlements amount to emissions of about 16 Mt in 2004, down from 27 Mt in 1990. This declining trend differs from the previously reported annual average emissions of 18 Mt, due to improvements in methodologies and completeness. Forest and grassland conversion to cropland shows a steady decrease from 16 Mt in 1990 to 9 Mt in 2004.