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Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions


In this section, you will find data that looks at Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trends in two ways:


From 1990 to 2008, Canada’s GHG emissions increased by 24%. (1) This is more than the rate of population increase (20.3%) (2) but is about equal to our increase in energy usage. We used 25% more energy in 2008 than we did in 1990. (3)

The 2008 emissions level puts us 31% above our Kyoto target.


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Data sources


As part of our commitment to the Kyoto accord, Canada is required to prepare and submit a national inventory of human-generated sources and sinks of greenhouse gases every year.

These inventory reports must meet international reporting guidelines and quality standards and they are reviewed by a UN expert review team.


Environment Canada GHG emissions tables


Click here for the Environment Canada GHG emissions 1990 to 2008 summary data in tabular form,

These tables show the amount and source of each greenhouse gas released in Canada and all provinces from 1990 to 2008.


Canada's submission to the UNFCCC


The actual submission made by Canada to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is published on the UNFCCC website.

Click here to download the 10 MB zip file. The file contains Canada's 2010 National Inventory Report (NIR2010) in three PDF documents:

  • Part 1 - The main part of the report on greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada
  • Part 2: Annex 1 through 11
  • Part 3: Annex 12 through 15 - This includes the provincial analyses


NOTE: All data are in CO2 equivalent kilotonnes per year. (1 kilotonne = 1000 tonnes = 1 million kilograms)