Canada Fossil-Fuel CO₂ Emissions

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Trends

Driven by a 6.2% per year increase in emissions from liquid fuels, total fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions from Canada increased by a factor of 2.5 from 1950 to 1974. Continuing growth until 1980 was maintained by continuing expansion of natural gas consumption and an upturn in coal consumption. The post-1980 drop was comparable to that observed in the United States, and the pattern from 1980 to 1987 was erratic but essentially at a constant level. After 1987, annual fossil-fuel CO₂ releases increased irregularly peaking in 2005 at 153 million metric tons of carbon. The 2006 estimate, approximately 149 million metric tons of carbon, represents a 2.7% decline from 2005. In 2006, liquid fuels contributed 44.9% of total fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions, natural gas contributed 33.4%, and coal contributed 19.7%. Per capita CO₂ emissions from Canada peaked in recent years around 4.8 metric tons of carbon per person placing Canada among the highest of the major fossil-fuel CO₂-emitting nations.