This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
The latest emissions calculations are now in for 2007 and Canada has exceed their Kyoto target by 34.2%. By 2012 Canada has committed to meet a Kyoto target of 556.5 Mt of greenhouse gas emissions, but since 1990 has risen steadily topping 747 Mt in 2007.
Environment Canada has just released its annual national inventory of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
Total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada in 2007 had risen to 747 Mt.
This meant that Canada exceeded our Kyoto target of 556.5 Mt by more than 34%.
Most troubling is the lack of a coherent, science-based plan for Canada. As long as there are no caps on industrial emissions, no strong efficiency regulations for vehicles, buildings, and appliances - Canadian emissions will continue to rise.
This graph illustrates the climb of emissions. The green line on the lower right show our Kyoto target and where our emissions aught to be by 2012.
Over the past year emissions have increased in every sector. Most notable however was the 276% increase from mining emissions since 1990.
This dramatic increase is non other than the explosion of tar sands development. The Environment Canada Inventory Report states, "While this subsector does include emissions for non-energy related mining, an increasing proportion is represented by those emissions from the activities associated with Canada’s oil sands, which saw four new projects commence operations in 2007."
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Additional Information:
UNFCCC web site with Reports from Annex I Countries to the Kyoto Protocol
As an Annex I Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Canada is required to submit both a National Inventory Report (NIR) and a set of Common Reporting Format (CRF) tables that contain a myriad of data about Canada's emissions record from 1990-2007 (the latest year for which there is data).
Environment Canada Inventory Report
A summary of the above reports is on the Environment Canada website.