TD (David) Dougherty, CACOR member, undertook the following research.
I recently became interested in just which organizations may be responsible for large portions of Canada’s 716 Mt of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Government of Canada’s Department of Environment and Climate Change has published a list of emissions by facilities that are required to report on their emissions because each emits more than10 kt CO2-equivalent. After some processing of the list, it turns out there were 1,620 facilities that
qualified as large emitters (> 10 kt CO2 eq) in 2017. Some 29 facilities that emitted less than 10 kt voluntarily reported and were put on the list. Together, all the facilities emitted ~290 Mt CO2 eq, representing 41% of national emissions.
The facilities belonged to 609 organizations. Most organizations had only one facility listed. Some 28 organizations had 10 or more facilities on the list and Canadian Natural Resources had the most (101 facilities).
Provinces and Territories vary greatly in numbers of reporting facilities and output from large emitters. Alberta had, by far, the most facilities and emissions.
| Provinces and Territories by Names | ||
| Province or Territory | Total Emissions (kt CO2 eq) |
Number of Facilities |
| Alberta | 156,285 | 626 |
| British Columbia | 16,428 | 191 |
| Manitoba | 2,391 | 39 |
| New Brunswick | 6,949 | 18 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 5,807 | 16 |
| Northwest Territories | 473 | 6 |
| Nova Scotia | 7,509 | 22 |
| Nunavut | 383 | 5 |
| Ontario | 42,519 | 322 |
| Prince Edward Island | 100 | 3 |
| Quebec | 22,574 | 185 |
| Saskatchewan | 28,892 | 185 |
| Yukon | 30 | 2 |
Despite having over three times the population (~14.1 million vs ~4.2 million), Ontario had about half the reporting facilities (~320 vs ~625).
| Provinces and Territories by Facilities Reporting |
||
| Province or Territory | Total Emissions (kt CO2 eq) |
Number of Facilities |
| Alberta | 156,285 | 626 |
| Ontario | 42,519 | 322 |
| British Columbia | 16,428 | 191 |
| Quebec | 22,574 | 185 |
| Saskatchewan | 28,892 | 185 |
| Manitoba | 2,391 | 39 |
| Nova Scotia | 7,509 | 22 |
| New Brunswick | 6,949 | 18 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 5,807 | 16 |
| Northwest Territories | 473 | 6 |
| Nunavut | 383 | 5 |
| Prince Edward Island | 100 | 3 |
| Yukon | 30 | 2 |
Ontario also had a quarter of the emissions (~42.5 Mt CO2 eq vs ~156 Mt CO2 eq) despite that 1:3 population ratio. The dependence of Alberta’s economy on emissions intensive activity is clear.
| Provinces and Territories by Total Emissions |
||
| Province or Territory | Total Emissions (kt CO2 eq) |
Number of Facilities |
| Alberta | 156,285 | 626 |
| Ontario | 42,519 | 322 |
| Saskatchewan | 28,892 | 185 |
| Quebec | 22,574 | 185 |
| British Columbia | 16,428 | 191 |
| Nova Scotia | 7,509 | 22 |
| New Brunswick | 6,949 | 18 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 5,807 | 16 |
| Manitoba | 2,391 | 39 |
| Northwest Territories | 473 | 6 |
| Nunavut | 383 | 5 |
| Prince Edward Island | 100 | 3 |
| Yukon | 30 | 2 |
The organizations that are the country’s largest emitters, are largely in the power generation sector (mainly as a result of operating coal-fired generating stations) and the oil and gas sector (mainly as a result of bitumen extraction and processing).
| Firms by Total Emissions (Top 23, > 3 Mt Each) |
||
| Firm | Firm emissions (kt CO2 eq) |
Number of Facilities |
| TransAlta Generation | 22,648 | 6 |
| Suncor Energy | 18,072 | 12 |
| Saskatchewan Power | 13,638 | 8 |
| Canadian Natural Resources | 13,357 | 101 |
| Imperial Oil | 13,047 | 8 |
| Syncrude Canada | 11,336 | 1 |
| ATCO | 10,223 | 10 |
| Capital Power [Edmonton, AB] | 9,859 | 3 |
| ArcelorMittal (including Dofasco) | 7,357 | 14 |
| Cenovus Energy | 7,199 | 35 |
| Husky Oil Operations | 6,864 | 46 |
| Nova Scotia Power | 6,739 | 6 |
| Shell Canada Energy | 6,676 | 13 |
| Rio Tinto Alcan | 5,140 | 12 |
| Spectra Energy Midstream | 4,043 | 17 |
| Essar Group | 3,990 | 2 |
| NOVA Chemicals | 3,937 | 4 |
| TransCanada Energy | 3,864 | 12 |
| Stelco | 3,486 | 2 |
| Lafarge Canada | 3,405 | 6 |
| Irving | 3,382 | 5 |
| Nova Gas Transmission | 3,342 | 1 |
| ConocoPhillips | 3,051 | 1 |
The individual facilities that are the country’s largest emitters, are largely in the same two sectors of the economy: power generation, and oil and gas sector, mainly because of huge facility size.
TransAlta’s two coal-fired facilities—Sundance Thermal Electric Power Generating Plant and Keephills Thermal Electric Power Generating Plant—near Duffield, Alberta, are the biggest (~12.7 Mt CO2 eq) and fifth biggest (~8.3 Mt CO2 eq) emitters. Capital Power’s Clover Bar Energy Centre, a natural-gas-fired plant that uses landfill gas, near Warburg, Alberta, is the third biggest (~9.7 Mt CO2 eq) emitter.
The Syncrude and Suncor bitumen mines at Fort McMurray are the second (~11.3 Mt CO2 eq) and fourth (~8.4 Mt CO2 eq) biggest emitters.
It is noteworthy that Canadian Natural Resources has ~100 facilities that average ~34 kt CO2 eq each, yet those facilities only account for ~25% of the firm’s total emissions (~3.3 Mt CO2 eq of ~13.4 Mt CO2 eq). Some 75% of the firm’s emissions are in three bitumen extraction facilities: the Horizon Oil Sands Processing Plant and Mine (~4.9 Mt CO2 eq), the Wolf Lake and Primrose Plant (~3.6 Mt CO2 eq), and the Muskeg River Mine and Jack Pine Mines (~1.5 Mt CO2 eq). The first and third of these are north of Fort McMurray, while the second is further south, near Cold Lake.
| Facilities by Total Emissions (Top 21, > 3 Mt Each) |
|||
| Firm | City | Province | Facility emissions (kt CO2 eq) |
| TransAlta Generation | Duffield | Alberta | 12,733 |
| Syncrude Canada | Fort McMurray | Alberta | 11,336 |
| Capital Power [Edmonton, AB] | Warburg | Alberta | 9,711 |
| Suncor Energy | Fort McMurray | Alberta | 8,444 |
| TransAlta Generation | Duffield | Alberta | 8,302 |
| ATCO | Hanna | Alberta | 5,665 |
| Imperial Oil | Grande Centre | Alberta | 5,629 |
| Saskatchewan Power | Estevan | Saskatchewan | 5,501 |
| Canadian Natural Resources | Fort McMurray | Alberta | 4,919 |
| ArcelorMittal (including Dofasco) | Hamilton | Ontario | 4,914 |
| Suncor Energy | Ft McMurray, Horizon Oil Sands Processing Plant and Mine | Alberta | 4,710 |
| Saskatchewan Power | Coronach | Saskatchewan | 3,937 |
| Canadian Natural Resources | Ft McMurray, Wolf Lake and Primrose Plant | Alberta | 3,626 |
| Shell Canada Energy | Fort Saskatchewan | Alberta | 3,462 |
| Nova Gas Transmission | Fairview | Alberta | 3,342 |
| Stelco | Haldimand County | Ontario | 3,243 |
| Cenovus Energy | Bonnyville | Alberta | 3,159 |
| Cenovus Energy | Lac La Biche | Alberta | 3,141 |
| Irving | Saint John | New Brunswick | 3,083 |
| ConocoPhillips | Anzac | Alberta | 3,051 |
| NOVA Chemicals | Lacombe | Alberta | 3,041 |
I accessed the federal government’s list of emissions-reporting facilities via
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmentalindicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions/large-facilities.html
There is also a report on the large emitters available at
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/eccc/documents/pdf/cesindicators/greenhouse-gasemissions-large-facilities/greenhouse-gas-emissions-large-facilities-en.pdf
The list itself can be downloaded as a spreadsheet-compatible file from
http://indicatorsmap.canada.ca/App/CESI_ICDE?keys=AirEmissions_GHG&GoCTemplateCulture=en-CA
I was not able at once to find the information that interested me, such as which organizations emitted the most, so I processed the data to consolidate the information in a useful format.
I Anglicized the names of organizations from Quebec.
I simplified the names of public sector organizations, standardizing the names of universities, hospitals, regional municipalities, and cities, for example.
I simplified the names of the firms on the list so as to make them easier to read and reference, eliminating references to companies, limited companies, partnerships, and so on. I found the parent firms of many organizations and grouped them together. I found the operating names of numbered companies. I attributed to each relevant province the entries for public institutions like hospitals and universities, though I did not add up the government-associated emissions in each province and territory in the same way that I added the emissions within associated private firms like resource
firms and manufacturers. I did, though, add together all emissions in each province and territory.
The full list of facilities, as processed, is available on request through CACOR.
(Editor: Leave a comment and David will respond.)
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