Technical Guidance on Reporting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Glossary of Terms
The following words and terms used in this guidance document shall have the indicated meaning:
Biomass means plants or plant materials, animal waste, or any product made of either of these. Biomass includes wood and wood products, charcoal, and agricultural residues and wastes (including organic matter such as trees, crops, grasses, tree litter, or roots); the portion of biologically derived organic matter in municipal and industrial wastes; landfill gas; bioalcohols; black liquor; sludge gas; and animal- or plant-derived oils.
Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) is a unit of measure used to allow the addition of or the comparison between gases that have different global warming potentials (GWPs). Since many greenhouse gases (GHGs) exist and their GWPs vary, the emissions are added in a common unit, CO2 eq. To express GHG emissions in units of CO2 eq, the quantity of a given GHG (expressed in units of mass) is multiplied by its GWP.
CAS Registry Number, or CAS Number is a unique numerical identifier in the Chemical Abstracts Service Registry that is given to every chemical that has been described in the literature. The Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of the American Chemical Society, assigns these identifiers.
CO2 emissions from biomass decomposition are releases of CO2 resulting from aerobic decomposition of biomass.
Contiguous facility means all buildings, equipment, structures and stationary items that are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites; are owned or operated by the same person; function as a single integrated site; and include wastewater collection systems that discharge treated or untreated wastewater into surface waters.
Direct emissions are releases from sources that are located at the facility.
Facility means a contiguous facility, a pipeline transportation system or an offshore installation.
GHGs means greenhouse gases.
GWP means global warming potential. It is calculated as the ratio of the time-integrated radiative forcing (i.e. the amount of heat-trapping potential, measured in units of power per unit of area, e.g. watts per square metre) that would result from the emission of 1 kg of a given GHG to that from the emission of 1 kg of CO2. For example, the GWP for nitrous oxide (N2O) is 310, which means that 1 kg of N2O emissions is equivalent to 310 kg of CO2 emissions.
HFCs means hydrofluorocarbons.
Offshore installation means an offshore drilling unit, production platform or ship, or sub-sea installation and that is attached or anchored to the continental shelf of Canada in connection with the exploitation of oil or gas.
PFCs means perfluorocarbons.
Pipeline transportation system means all pipelines that are owned or operated by the same person within a province or territory and that transport processed natural gas and their associated installations including storage installations but excluding straddle plants or other processing installations.
Reporting company means a person who operates one or more facilities that meet the reporting threshold as set out in Schedule 3 of the Canada Gazette notice. The latest Gazette Notice can be found on Environment Canada's Greenhouse Gas Website (www.ec.gc.ca/ges-ghg/default.asp?lang=En&n=F3E7B38E-1).
Preface
Background
Canada has announced that it intends to work towards fulfilling its obligations and domestic climate change policy objectives by ensuring that it has the capacity to quantify, track and report progress on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a way that meets a required level of accuracy, thoroughness, transparency and public credibility.
In March 2004, the Government of Canada initiated a phased approach to the collection of GHG emissions data and related information. The GHG Emissions Reporting Program (GHGRP) was launched through the publication of the first Canada Gazette notice in March 2004, which set out basic reporting requirements. A Canada Gazette notice is published every year requiring the reporting of GHG emissions for the calendar year specified in the notice.
This program continues to be a part of Canada’s effort to develop, through a collaborative process with the provinces and territories, a harmonized and efficient single window reporting system to meet the GHG reporting needs of all jurisdictions and minimize the reporting burden for both Canadian industry and governments. Key objective are to provide Canadians with reliable and timely information on GHG emissions and to support the development of regulations.
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to potential reporters to help determine if they are required to submit a report and to present technical information related to GHG emissions reporting. This technical information includes the GHGs and emission sources subject to reporting, along with information on methods for calculating emissions and the required reporting format. An overview of the reporting process is also described herein. Separate guidance is available regarding the online reporting system that should be used to submit a report. This guidance includes instructions on how to use the reporting system, how to complete and submit the report, and other relevant information.
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