By Nia Williams
(Reuters) – Canada’s 2021 carbon emissions were 8.4% lower than 2005 levels, a government report showed on Friday, although they rose from 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home and depressed economic activity.
Canada, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, is aiming to cut emissions 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Greenhouse gas emissions were 670 megatonnes in 2021, an increase of 1.8% on 2020 levels as pandemic restrictions eased and the economy picked up, according to the annual National Inventory Report, which Canada submits to the United Nations.
But emissions remained 7.4% below pre-pandemic levels. The government attributed the progress to factors including fuel switching, modernizing industrial processes and growth in the clean economy.
“Canada’s latest greenhouse gas emissions data gives an encouraging picture of progress,” federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in a statement. “The slight emissions rebound after the pandemic is smaller than originally expected.”
Guilbeault said the data showed Canadian economic growth was getting cleaner as greenhouse gas pollution decoupled from national gross domestic product. The emissions intensity of the entire economy has dropped 42% since 2005.
During eight years in power, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has enacted climate policies including a rising carbon price and regulations to tackle methane pollution, which in the short-term is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
The government is also planning to introduce a cap on oil and gas emissions this year and clean electricity standards to achieve a net-zero power grid by 2035.
Emissions from Canada’s two highest-polluting sectors, the oil and gas industry and transportation, rose by 4% and 5% respectively between 2020 and 2021 as travel increased and fossil fuel production grew.
The sectors combined now account for half of Canada’s emissions.
Emissions from electricity, buildings and agriculture declined slightly.
Dave Sawyer, principal economist for the Canadian Climate Institute, said the report showed clear progress on Canada’s climate goals and that government decarbonization policies were having an impact.
“It’s the first time we are seeing evidence of policy biting across a number of sectors,” he said.
Sawyer said even though oil and gas emissions rose in 2021, accounting for 28% of Canada’s total carbon output, there had been progress in the sector with methane emissions down 21% since 2005.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
