Facility Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program – Overview of Reported 2010 Emissions

---

4 Short-term Change, 2009–2010

Over the past year, total emissions reported by facilities increased by 10.8 Mt CO₂ eq (a 4.3% increase from the revised 2009 reported total of 251 Mt). This increase occurred across all sectors with the exception of “Other,” which includes various types of facilities such as pipeline transportation of natural gas, solid waste landfills and universities (decrease of 0.9 Mt). Of the sectors that increased, the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (6.2 Mt) and Manufacturing (3.0 Mt) sectors demonstrated the largest increase. The Utilities sector as a whole increased emissions by 2.5 Mt.

The increase in reported emissions can be explained by two different factors: an increase in the number of reporting facilities and an increase in emissions from facilities that reported in both 2009 and 2010. There was an overall increase of the number of facilities reporting, from 533 to 537. Examples of specific changes observed in the number of facilities that reported between 2009 and 2010, contributing to this overall change, include:

• An additional 14 Manufacturing facilities reported over the past year.
• An increase of 10 Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction facilities reported in 2010.
• There was a decline of 25 reporting facilities in the Utilities sector: these facilities decided not to voluntarily report again in 2010. Emissions from these 25 facilities accounted for 0.06 Mt of GHGs in 2009.

There were 11 facilities that reported their 2009 emissions at the same time as their 2010 emissions. The increase in the number of facilities reporting (both voluntary reporters and those required to report) can be partly attributed to new provincial reporting regulations in Ontario and British Columbia as well as a greater knowledge by the regulated community of the reporting requirements both federally and provincially. Both of these provinces now require facilities to report their GHG emissions and related information, starting with 2010 information. The British Columbia and Ontario reporting thresholds are lower than the federal 50-kt threshold. 

Understanding the short-term change from comparable facilities provides a more accurate representation of the overall change in the reported emissions as it removes the variability in the number of facilities reporting each year. “Comparable facilities” are defined as those that reported GHG emissions for each year being analyzed, and the short-term analysis included in this section of the report uses facilities that reported in both 2009 and 2010. For the years 2009 and 2010, there are 476 comparable facilities, and their emissions account for 99% of the total emissions reported for these two years.

Between 2009 and 2010, total emissions reported by comparable facilities show an overall increase of 8.2 Mt (or 3.3%). Carbon dioxide (CO₂) representing the majority of total reported emissions (94%), increased by 9 Mt (or 3.9%). Reported emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) also increased between 2009 and 2010, largely due to two facilities which increased their use of HFCs. This is not necessarily indicative of an overall national trend in HFC emissions.  

Net increases were recorded in the reported emissions for comparable facilities in the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (4.9 Mt), Manufacturing (2.4 Mt), and Utilities sectors (2.0 Mt) (Table 2). Potential factors affecting these changes in reported emissions include variability in production volumes or operations, e.g. increases in demand due to economic factors, fewer shutdown periods. 

 Table 2: Short-term change by NAICS sector,⁴ 2009–2010, for comparable facilities*

Industry Sector, Grouped by NAICS Code		Number of Facilities	Emissions (kt CO2eq)
NAICS	NAICS Description		2009	2010	Difference
21	Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction	138	61 759	66 608	4 849
22	Utilities	87	101 935	103 950	2 056
31–33	Manufacturing	195	73 727	76 172	2 445
Other	Other**	56	12 081	10 951	-1 171
	Totals	476	249 503	257 682	8 179

* Comparable facilities are the 476 facilities that reported in both 2009 and 2010.

** “Other” includes various types of facilities such as pipeline transportation of natural gas, solid waste landfills and universities.

The 10 industries showing the largest changes in emissions (Figure 4) reported an overall increase in emissions of 7.9 Mt (representing 97% of the total short-term increase). The non-conventional oil extraction sector led, with an increase in emissions of 4.0 Mt, followed by a 2.5 Mt increase in emissions from iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy manufacturing. Emissions from facilities in the fossil-fuel electric power generation sector increased by 1.2 Mt.

Emission growth in the non-conventional oil extraction sector was driven by increases in bitumen production (20%) and synthetic crude (about 4%) between 2009 and 2010.⁷

The overall increase in manufacturing emissions is primarily the result of a turnaround in the economy. Nationally, manufacturing sales increased by 8%,⁸ contributing to the 3.2% increase in emissions since 2009. The domestic production of steel, following the demand for steel products by various sectors, notably increased (41%).⁹ There was also a significant increase (40%)¹⁰ in the export of steel pipe and tubing products, mainly to the U.S. This increase in steel production is reflected in the 22% increase in emissions for this sector.

Figure 4: Top 10 short-term changes by NAICS industry sector,⁴ 2009–2010, for comparable facilities*

* Comparable facilities are the 476 facilities that reported in both 2009 and 2010.

Among provinces and territories, most provinces showed an increase in emissions from comparable facilities, except for Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba (Figure 5).

• The net increase of 5.6 Mt experienced by Ontario facilities is largely due to an increase in emissions from fossil-fuel-based electric power generation (3.9 Mt), iron and steel manufacturing (2.0 Mt) and other electric power generation (0.9 Mt). Other basic organic chemical manufacturing and pipeline transportation of natural gas accounted for emission decreases of 0.7 Mt and 0.5 Mt respectively.
• The 4.0 Mt increase experienced by comparable facilities in Alberta is largely due to an increase in emissions from non-conventional oil extraction.
• New Brunswick reported the largest decrease in emissions (2.0 Mt) from comparable facilities between 2009 and 2010, the majority of which occurred within the fossil-fuel-based electric power generation, which experienced a 1.9 Mt decrease.

Figure 5: Provincial short-term change, 2009–2010, for comparable facilities*

* Comparable facilities are the 476 facilities that reported in both 2009 and 2010.

---

7. Energy Resources Conservation Board. 2011. Alberta’s Energy Reserves 2010 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2011-2020. ST98-2011.

8. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 377-0008.

9. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 41-019.

10. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 303-0046.

---