Human activity and the environment: Climate change in Canada

View the most recent version.

Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), major contributors to climate change, rose 25% between 1990 and 2005. However, without increases in energy efficiency, the increase in emissions would have been even greater.

In 2005, human activities released the equivalent of 747 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in Canada. This was up about 25% from emissions of 596 megatonnes in 1990.

One megatonne is equal to one million tonnes. To put this in perspective, driving a mid-size car about 5,000 kilometres results in about one tonne of emissions.

However, during the same 15-year period, the amount of GHGs emitted per unit of economic activity declined 18%, while the nation's population grew 17%, and energy use increased 23%.

This compilation of the most recent statistics related to climate change in Canada is published in the 2007 and 2008 edition of Human Activity and the Environment, Statistics Canada's compendium of information on how Canadians interact with their environment.

Energy production and use by far the biggest contributor

Energy production and consumption are by far the largest source of GHG emissions in Canada, accounting for more than 80% of emissions in 2005.

A lot of fossil fuels are burned to move people and goods—transportation activities accounted for 27% of all emissions in 2005.

Canada is a trading nation and energy now makes up one-fifth of all merchandise exports. In both 1990 and 2003, the production of energy for export resulted in more GHG emissions than the production of any other exported commodity. These GHG emissions increased from 17% to 27% of all emissions associated with export production over this time period.

As worldwide demand for energy has surged since 1990, GHG emissions from the production of exported energy have jumped 146%.

Growth in investment in the oil sands has been rapid. Just a decade ago, investment by the industry was less than one-tenth that of the manufacturing sector.

In 2008, producers intend to invest $19.7 billion in the oil sands, surpassing the $19.6 billion planned investment by the entire manufacturing sector.

Canada among highest per capita GHG emitters

Canada has about 0.5% of the world's population, but contributes about 2% of the total global GHG emissions.

In 2005, just over 23 tonnes of GHGs were emitted for each person in Canada, an 8% per capita increase since 1990. Over the same period, Canada's economy grew by 30% in per capita terms.

Canadian per capita GHG emissions are comparable to those in the United States (24.4 tonnes). But they are markedly higher than those in Germany (12.1 tonnes), the United Kingdom (10.9 tonnes), Japan (10.6 tonnes) and France (9.2 tonnes).

As consumers, Canadians are indirectly responsible for the GHGs emitted by the companies that make the goods and services they buy. Between 1990 and 2003, industrial emissions associated with domestic products bought by Canadians increased by 15%, just more than the 14% increase in population over the period. In contrast, industrial emissions related to the production of goods and services for export increased 53%.

Impacts of climate change: Canada getting warmer

Canada has warmed in recent decades. The trend between 1948 and 2007 shows a 1.4 °C increase in annual temperatures in Canada. Temperature increases are greatest in the Yukon/North British Columbia Mountains region and the Mackenzie District of the Northwest Territories.

Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains are receding and thinning, resulting in decreases in flow during the critical driest months of the year in some rivers. Of the 853 glaciers inventoried in 1975 in the North and South Saskatchewan River basins, 328 have disappeared completely.

The total glacial area of the North Saskatchewan River Basin declined 22% from 1975 to 1998, while glacial cover decreased 36% in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.

The spread of the mountain pine beetle in the central interior of British Columbia has coincided with warmer winter extremes. This shift in the distribution of the beetle has had a large impact on the forestry industry.

By 2007, the area affected by the infestation covered almost 13 million hectares. The amount of standing dead wood was estimated at about 530 million cubic metres in 2007. This represented about 40% of the merchantable pine and 12% of the province's total merchantable timber.

In 2004, the business sector spent $955 million on environmental processes and technologies to reduce GHGs. The oil and gas industry, the wood products industry and the pulp, paper and paperboard mills industry each spent over $140 million to reduce their GHG emissions.

About 26% of Canadian industries adopted new systems or equipment to reduce GHG emissions between 2002 and 2004.

While production of renewable energy other than hydro has increased six-fold in the past five years, it still contributes minimally to the total supply (0.3% in 2005).

Other environmental highlights

In addition to the feature article on climate change, Human Activity and the Environment also provides a comprehensive set of data describing how Canadians interact with the environment. It includes data on topics such as climate, natural resources, ecosystems, and environmental practices.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5129.

The publication Human Activity and the Environment; Annual Statistics, 2007 and 2008 (16-201-XWE, free) is now available online. From the Publications module of our website, under Free Internet publications choose Environment. A printed version of Human Activity and the Environment; Annual Statistics, 2007 and 2008 (16-201-XPE, $68) will soon be available. For information on how to order, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts methods or data quality of this release, contact the Information Officer (613-951-0297; fax: 613-951-0634; environ@statcan.gc.ca), Environment Accounts and Statistics Division.