Why Can’t Canada Ever Hit It’s GHG Emission Targets?

Most Canadians believe the climate is changing and that human activity is responsible.   Many Canadians are aware that Canada’s record of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) increases is among the worst in the world.  And if asked where the increase in carbon emissions is coming from, virtually every Canadian would say the oil sands.

And they would be wrong.  For despite the rapid development of the oil sands and its inherently GHG emissions intensive nature, they constitute only a fraction of Canada’s emissions increase.

Where are Canada’s emissions coming from?

At about 1/10 of a ton of CO2 per barrel, the current level of 2 million barrels of oil per day from the oil sands generates 73 megatons of GHG emissions annually.

In 2015, Canada’s emissions are close to 740 megatons up from 590 mt in 1990.  The national increase is over double the total emissions from the oil sands.  Where is the majority of the increase coming from?

To find out, please watch our short video “Canada’s Mystery Emissions”.

Moving forward, the Canadian government needs to answer these questions:

  1. What are the major sources of Canada’s emissions increases?
  2. Why has Canada consistently missed all of its GHG emissions targets by such huge margins?
  3. Are our new targets any more credible than our previous targets?
  4. Will the government make public the model used for generating the new projections?
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