Our goal is to visit different indicators influencing climate change below and their reporting processes so we can come back to them later in the year to examine any progress.
One of the best known resources is Canada’s Environmental Sustainability Indicators program, tracking performance of the federal Sustainable Development Strategy on key issues of air, climate, water, nature, and human influence. Yearly indicators are prepared by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) with the support of other Ministries – Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and provincial/territorial governments.
The GGE update takes almost 16 months given the time needed to collect, validate, calculate and interpret data. Thus, the following indicators are taken from Statistics Canada monthly tables.
Statistics Canada is an agency responsible to Parliament through the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry. It is commissioned to produce statistics to help better understand Canada’s population, resources, economy, society and culture. This open data, released under the Statistics Canada Open License is derived through compulsory surveys and administrative sources, in the form of aggregated data to comply with the Statistics Act.
- Consolidated energy usage (monthly)
Canada’s GGE reduction target is now 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030. Energy production and use accounts for over 80% of our GGEs. Consolidated data includes primary (coal, crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, primary electricity, and renewable fuels) and secondary (coke, refined petroleum products, secondary electricity and thermal) energy sources by fuel type.
Data is collected monthly by Statistics Canada. Primary energy production remained high in November 2021, at 1.9 million terajoules, natural gas (+8.0%) being most of this growth. Secondary energy production continues to increase mostly because of higher refinery production.
Data source
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510007901
Measure for indicator that exists now, to make baseline comparisons to :
| PERFORMANCE INDICATOR | BASELINE VALUE | DATE |
| Consolidated energy use | 2.37 million terajoules | Feb 2022 |
- Coal phase-out (monthly)
In December 2018, Canada announced regulations to phase-out traditional coal-fired electricity
by 2030 to support the goal of phasing out coal-fired electricity by 2030 and support clean power. The decommissioning of coal-fired power plants in Ontario already has reduced the number of annual smog days in the province from 53 days to zero.
Data is collected monthly by Statistics Canada. Latest report states coal production dropped 28.1% to 2.8 million tonnes in November 2021, while exports fell 31.0% to 1.6 million tonnes. Similarly, coke production declined 31.2% to 124,100 tonnes from October 2021.
Data source
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510004601
Measure for indicator that exists now, to make baseline comparisons to:
| PERFORMANCE INDICATOR | BASELINE VALUE | DATE |
| Coal production/exports | 4.4 tonnes | Feb 2022 |
- Generation of electricity by fuel type (monthly)
Canada has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world. In 2019, approximately 83% came from zero emitting sources like conventional hydropower, wind, solar, and nuclear. Canada has a target to achieve a net-zero emissions electricity sector by 2035. Nuclear energy continues to engage public debate as mining and refining uranium ore and making reactor fuel all require large amounts of energy. Regulation of the electricity sector occurs primarily at the provincial level and includes most policies regarding pricing as well as the types of power generation used.
Data is collected monthly by Statistics Canada. Latest report states production increased to 51.7 million megawatt-hours in November 2021, up 7% from October. By generation type, this meant hydroelectricity 58.5%, nuclear 12.4%, wind/solar 8%, and combustible fuels/biomass 21.1%.
Data source
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510001501
Measure for indicator that exists now, to make baseline comparisons to:
| PERFORMANCE INDICATOR | BASELINE VALUE | DATE |
| Electricity Fuel types | 51.7 million megawatt-hours | Feb 2022 |
- Transit passenger trips
Transportation accounts for over 25% of Canada’s emissions. Canada’s target is to increase by 20% the modal share for public transit and active transportation. Canada is already investing billions of dollars to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission buses and charging infrastructure.
Data is collected monthly by Statistics Canada. In November 2021, ridership continued to grow, reaching the highest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This was also an increase of 6.3%, or nearly 5.3 million riders since October 2021.
Data source
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2310025101
Measure for indicator that exists now, to make baseline comparisons to:
| PERFORMANCE INDICATOR | BASELINE VALUE | DATE |
| Transit passenger trips | 89.4 million | Feb 2022 |
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Canada Country Manager Diane Szoller