Although the oil and gas sector remains Alberta’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the largest emitter of all provinces, it accounts for a small portion of Canada’s total emissions. However, it is decreasing.
Alberta’s emissions reached 270 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, according to the latest national inventory report released Thursday.
This is down slightly from the state’s 271 megatons in 2021.
Alberta will account for 38% of the country’s total emissions in 2022, down from 39% the previous year.
This decline is primarily due to emissions from electricity generation in Alberta plummeting as the province continues to phase out coal-fired power plants.
Emissions from Alberta’s electricity sector will be 19 megatonnes in 2022, less than half the amount the sector was emitting five years ago.
“This is important…especially given that our state is growing and demand for electricity is increasing,” said Marie-Christine Bouchard of the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank.
“There are still significant savings associated with not generating electricity with coal.”
Emissions from the oil and gas sector totaled just over 158 megatons in 2022.
Despite the increase, the state’s oil production decreased by 0.5 megatons compared to the previous year.
Federal Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault highlighted this as “good news” in the latest inventory report that Canada is required to submit to the United Nations under the terms of the Paris Agreement.
“Methane emissions in the oil and gas sector are decreasing,” Guilbeault told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.
“They’re going to have to go much lower still,” he added.
Guilbeault said the country remained on track to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target, even though total emissions increased from 698 megatons in 2021 to 708 megatons in 2022.
He noted that much of the increase was due to a review of how methane emissions are measured and included in national inventories.
“We’ve known for years that methane is underreported, and we’re going to great lengths to ensure we have the most accurate measurements possible,” Guilbeault said.
These efforts will also include aerial surveys to measure actual emissions, he said.
Previously, methane emissions were calculated based on fuel usage reported by companies, but experts say that number can be compared to actual measurements of methane measured by aircraft over oil sands operations and other industrial facilities. It is pointed out that there is a large discrepancy between the two.
The methane revision had an outsized and retrospective impact on Alberta’s total emissions in national inventory reports going back decades.
The latest report shows revised emissions from Alberta’s oil and gas sector increased by 10 to 15 megatonnes in each year from 1990 to 2021 compared to the previous report.
Looking more closely at this sector, emissions are generally trending upward from the oil sands, but decreasing from natural gas production and processing.
Alberta remains the largest contributor to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions of all provinces, but ranks second on a per capita basis.
According to this standard, Saskatchewan is the largest emitter, with emissions per 100,000 people in 2022 of approximately 6.4 megatons, compared to Alberta’s emissions of 6 megatonnes.
Quebec had the lowest emissions, at 0.9 megatonnes per 100,000 people.