Emissions & Energy

CO2 emissions, energy, and environmental indicators

How much carbon Canada emits, how that has changed over time, and how its energy is sourced.

Where Canada stands

A scorecard of where Canada ranks among the peer group’s 17 economies on each measure (latest available year). Dots are ordered by rank, so further right is more favourable for Canada (lower-is-better measures are flipped accordingly). Canada is maroon, key comparators in colour; hover a dot for its value and rank.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions, on the National Inventory Report basis (the official series). Emissions have drifted down from their 2007 peak. Successive federal governments have committed to reducing emissions, though progress has remained challenging.

Greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector

Where the emissions come from. Oil and gas and transport are the two largest sources; electricity generation has fallen as a GHG source as provinces phased out the use of coal.

CO2 emissions per capita

Production-based CO2 emissions per person, in tonnes of CO2. This is the most directly comparable measure of a country’s carbon footprint, controlling for population size.

Latest CO2 per capita: ranked

CO2 per capita in global context

The comparison above is among wealthy countries, where Canada sits at the high end. Widening the lens to the whole world changes the picture. China’s emissions per person have climbed steeply since 2000 to nearly twice the world average, while India’s are still relatively low on a per capita basis.

While not typically used in this site’s comparisons, China and India are shown here for global context because they are significant emitters in absolute terms.

CO2 emissions trend (indexed, 2005 = 100)

How each country’s CO2 emissions have changed relative to 2005 levels (2005 = 100, the base year historically used for Canada’s official emission reduction targets). Values below 100 indicate reductions since 2005; above 100 indicate growth.

Consumption-based CO2 per capita

The per-capita measure above counts emissions where they physically occur (production-based). This consumption-based measure instead assigns emissions to where goods are finally consumed, so the carbon embodied in imported goods counts against the importer rather than the exporter. Comparing the two shows whether trade flatters or worsens a country’s footprint. This is relevant for an economy like Canada’s, which imports many manufactured goods.

Latest consumption-based CO2: ranked

CO2 emissions intensity

Emissions per dollar of economic output: how much CO2 the economy releases to produce a given amount of GDP. It is one gauge of how carbon-heavy the economy is. Most of Canada’s peers have brought it down steadily while their economies grew. Canada runs among the highest in the group.

Latest CO2 emissions intensity: ranked

Electricity generation per capita

How much electricity a society generates per person is one of the most reliable physical markers of material living standards. Energy per person tracks closely with standards of living, income, industrialization, and many modern comforts (heating, cooling, appliances, transportation). By this measure Canada sits near the very top of the world. Some of that reflects prosperity, but some of it also reflects Canada’s cold climate, vast distances, abundant low-cost hydro power, nuclear power, and an energy-intensive resource and manufacturing base.

Latest electricity generation per capita: ranked

Low carbon electricity

The share of electricity generated from non-fossil sources: hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar combined. This is the measure most relevant to decarbonizing the grid.

Latest low carbon electricity: ranked

Electricity mix by country

How each country generates electricity, by source (latest available year). Fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) versus nuclear and renewables (which include hydro). Countries are sorted cleanest-first.

Canada’s electricity mix over time

How Canada generates electricity has shifted over the decades. Coal has been mostly phased out, with hydro and nuclear supplying most of the grid.

Electricity mix by province

Canada has no single national grid. Electricity is a provincial responsibility, and the mix of sources varies from one province to the next. Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Newfoundland & Labrador run almost entirely on hydro; Ontario leans heavily on nuclear and hydro. Among the provinces that still burn fossil fuels, the type matters: coal emits more CO2 (and other pollutants) per unit of electricity compared to natural gas, so it is shown separately. Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan still use coal, while Alberta has largely switched from coal to gas. This is generation (actual output), not installed capacity. That’s an important subtlety, since places like Ontario have installed natural gas capacity that is only used for ‘peak power’ and as a backup for when renewables are less available.

Total energy mix in Canada

Electricity is only part of the picture. This shows Canada’s total primary energy. This includes the oil and gas burned for transport and heating, not just electricity. These other uses are why fossil fuels still dominate the total energy use even though the electricity grid is mostly low carbon.

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