Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of oil, natural gas and coal exported from Canada totaled more than four billion tonnes between 2016 and 2020, according to an estimate by the Federal Ministry of Environment. Environment. The weight of these emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels is such that it has exceeded, each year, the entire Canadian national balance sheet. Students intend to challenge the Trudeau government on Thursday by evoking these figures.
Officially, Canada emitted 3.6 billion tonnes of GHGs between 2016 and 2020, according to data from the federal government’s most recent official report, published in April. This assessment only takes into account emissions produced on Canadian soil, including those from the oil and gas exploitation sector (978.2 million tonnes in five years), but also from the transportation sector (881.2 million tonnes in five years).
The official assessment produced by the Canadian government therefore does not present an exhaustive portrait of GHG emissions attributable to oil, natural gas and coal mined in Canada. It must be said that the emissions are mainly produced at the time of combustion and that these fossil resources are mainly burned outside Canadian borders. Emissions are therefore not counted in the annual Canadian report which is submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
129% of the national balance sheet
The Ecojustice group, however, asked Environment and Climate Change Canada for data on “CO2 combustion of exported fossil fuels”, from 2016 to 2020.
The information obtained indicates that for oil exported alone, at an average of 3.4 million barrels per day during this period, the “estimate” for these five years amounts to 3.22 billion tonnes, or an annual average of nearly 644 million tonnes. This figure is equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 260 million cars.
For natural gas produced domestically but burned elsewhere, GHG emissions reached 746.6 million tonnes for the period 2016-2020, an annual average of 149.3 million tonnes. For coal, by combining the emissions from the combustion of the two types (thermal and metallurgical), we reach 370 million tonnes over five years, or an average of 74 million tonnes per year.
In total, emissions attributable to the combustion of exported oil, natural gas and coal therefore reach 4.4 billion tonnes for this period. The maximum was 954.3 million tonnes in 2019, when total GHG emissions in Canada were 738 million tonnes. The only emissions produced by the use of exported fossil fuels represented, that year, 129% of the country’s national balance sheet, or the equivalent of 388 million cars.
fourth oil exporter
As part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Trudeau government has promised that emissions from the oil and gas sector in Canada will be reduced by 31% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. This target , less ambitious than the 40% reduction target for national GHG emissions, does not mean that the industry will have to reduce its production. Ottawa says it does not have the power to limit oil and gas development, since it is a provincial jurisdiction.
The country is the world’s fourth largest exporter of oil and the sixth largest exporter of natural gas. What’s more, the Trudeau government expects oil and natural gas production to increase over the next few years, federal experts said at a March briefing when announcing the plan. reduction of GHG emissions. “Canada continues to be an energy provider in the context of the transition,” it was argued.
According to the Canada Energy Regulator, natural gas production should notably increase by 18% by 2040, mainly due to the use of hydraulic fracturing. In order for this natural gas to be exported around the world, projects for liquefied natural gas plants and terminals are being developed on the West Coast.
With respect to oil projects, the federal government has promised to impose stricter conditions to meet GHG reduction targets. This is the case for the Bay du Nord oil project, off the coast of Newfoundland. This must produce at least 500 million barrels of oil, but this production is expected to be “carbon neutral” by 2050.
However, this will not change the emissions resulting from the final use of this oil. According to data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, each barrel that is burned generates 0.43 tonnes of GHGs. Assuming that 90% of the oil exploited by Equinor will be burned, which is currently the case for this resource, the Bay du Nord project could generate 190 million tonnes of GHGs.
Events
In this context, the Student Climate Action Front intends to demonstrate Thursday in various cities of Quebec to demand that the Trudeau government modify its plan to cap and reduce emissions from the fossil fuel sector so that it takes into account the emissions produced in outside Canadian borders. “Our demand constitutes a concrete and politically realistic measure to really tackle the climate crisis in Canada”, according to the grouping.
Greenpeace spokesperson Patrick Bonin also believes that the analysis of the impacts of the exploitation of fossil fuels in Canada should include a “life cycle analysis”, and this, “to finally give a complete picture of the climate impacts “. He recalls that the International Energy Agency published a report in 2021 which concludes that all new exploitation projects must be banned in order to hope to limit global warming to +1.5°C, i.e. the global objective to which joins the Trudeau government.
Minister Steven Guilbeault’s office was unable to send us answers on Wednesday to questions sent a few times since Monday.