An excellent summary source of data on Canada’s emissions and performance during the period 1990-2010 is available on Environment Canada’s web site. See:
Environment Canada – National Inventory Report – GHG sources and sinks in Canada 1990-2010.
Canada, like many economies, has become more efficient in its use of energy (the main source of GHGs) in recent decades—its use of energy per unit of total output has declined steadily. On a per capita basis Canada’s emissions amounted to 23.5 tonnes in 2005, and dropped to 20.3 by 2010. This improvement in efficiency means that Canada’s GDP is now less energy intensive. The quest for increased efficiency is endless, if economic growth is to continue at rates that will satisfy the world’s citizens and more broadly the impoverished world. The critical challenge is to produce more output while using not just less energy per unit of output, but to use less energy in total
While Canada’s energy intensity (GHGs per unit of output) has dropped by a very substantial amount – 27% between 1990 and 2010 – overall emissions increased by almost 20%. Furthermore, while developed economies have increased their efficiency, it is the world’s efficiency that is ultimately critical. By outsourcing much our its manufacturing sector to China, Canada and the West have offloaded some of their most GHG-intensive activities. But GHGs are a common property resource.
Canada’s GHG emissions also have a regional aspect: the production of oil and gas, which has created considerable wealth for all Canadians (and contributed to the appreciation of the Canadian dollar in the last decade), is both energy intensive and concentrated in a limited number of provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and more recently Newfoundland and Labrador).
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