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Ministry of Environment

British Columbia Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report

B.C. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report

The Ministry of Environment has prepared the British Columbia Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report with staff in other provincial ministries and federal counterparts to determine and report the 2010 GHG emissions level for B.C. The content and data tables below are now updated to include B.C.'s GHG emissions in 2010. Though key data tables will be released, a full report will not be released for 2011 emissions.  The next full report will cover 1990-2012 emissions and be released in 2014.

The Greenhouse Gas Reductions Target Act established 2007 as the base year for calculation of British Columbia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets. The Act puts into law British Columbia’s target of reducing GHG emissions by at least 33 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020 and includes the long-term target of an 80 per cent reduction below 2007 levels by 2050.Progress to Targets 2012

The 2012 Progress to Targets report, entitled Making Progress on B.C.’s Climate Action Plan, is now available online at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cas/pdfs/2012-Progress-to-Targets.pdf (PDF/15MB).

B.C. Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2010

Total GHG emissions in British Columbia in 2010 were 62.0 megatonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e).

GHG emissions are attributed to six defined sectors — energy (with three sub-sectors), industrial processes, solvents and other product use, agriculture, waste and afforestation and deforestation — following national and international reporting protocols. These sectors, and energy sub-sectors, are shown in the pie graph and described in the table below.

B.C. GHG Emissions - 2009 pie chart


SECTOR


DESCRIPTION
ENERGY Emissions from stationary and transport fuel combustion and fugitive emissions from the fossil fuel industry.
Sub-sector a:
Stationary Combustion		 Emissions from stationary devices that combust solid, liquid or gaseous fuel in order to generate useful heat or electricity (excluding devices used in pipeline transport). Emissions are broken down by the following industrial sectors: electricity and heat generation; fossil fuel industries; mining and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; construction; commercial and institutional; and residential.
Sub-sector b:
Transport		 Emissions from mobile devices that combust liquid or gaseous fuels for the purpose of generating useful energy (including stationary devices used in pipeline transport). Emissions are broken down by the following vehicle categories: domestic aviation; road transportation; railways; domestic marine; off-road transportation; and pipelines.
Sub-sector c:
Fugitive Emissions		 Intentional or unintentional emissions from: the production, processing, transmission, storage and delivery of fossil fuels; and the combustion of fossil fuels not used to generate useful heat or electricity.
INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES Emissions from chemical reactions used in industry that physically or chemically transform materials (occurring during the production of cement, lime, aluminum, other base metals and hydrogen) and fugitive emissions from the use of halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride in various applications.
SOLVENT & OTHER PRODUCT USE Fugitive emissions of nitrous oxide when the gas is used as an anaesthetic or propellant.
AGRICULTURE Emissions from enteric fermentation (digestive processes of ruminant animals such as cattle), manure management and agricultural soils.
WASTE Emissions from solid waste decomposition at landfills, wastewater treatment and waste incineration.
AFFORESTATION & DEFORESTATION Emissions from deforestation (i.e., releases at the time of deforestation and the residual decay of dead organic matter) and removals from afforestation (i.e., new trees absorbing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere).

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B.C. GHG Emissions by Sector - 1990 to 2010

The Summary of GHG Emissions, 1990 - 2010 (XLS, 64 KB) provides a summary of GHG emissions for B.C. by category for the 1990 to 2010 years. Note that the table includes “Other Land Use” emissions categories. These memo items are reported for transparency and GHG accounting purposes but are not included in total British Columbia GHG emissions. Refer to Chapter 1 of the BC Provincial GHG Inventory Report 2010 for additional information regarding GHG emissions accounting and reporting protocols and procedures.

Trends in Emissions

Total annual GHG emissions in British Columbia decreased by 4.5% between 2007 and 2010 (from 64.9 Mt in 2007) and by 5.7 per cent (from 65.8 Mt) over the ten year period from 2000 to 2010. From 2009 to 2010 GHG emissions increased by 0.8% from 2009 to 2010 (from 61.5 Mt to 62.0 Mt CO2e). Note that annual emissions estimates are revised to incorporate data and methodology improvements, hence reported emissions for previous years will change in each inventory report.

B.C. GHG Emissions 1990 - 2007


SECTOR
2010 GHG Emissions
(kt CO2e)
3-Year Change
(2007-2010)
10-Year Change
(2000-2010)
ENERGY 49 300 -3.7% -4.8%
INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES 3 588 -4.9% -5.4%
SOLVENT & OTHER PRODUCT USE 32 -24.8% -45.7%
AGRICULTURE 2 058 -11.7% -13.3%
WASTE 4 111 +1.3% +5.4%
AFFORESTATION & DEFORESTATION 2 904 -17.2% -24.8%

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Sector Trends

Energy Sector – Annual energy sector emissions decreased by 3.7 per cent between 2007 and 2010 and by 4.8 per cent over the ten year period from 2000 to 2010. A short-term (2009-2010) increase can be attributed to increased energy use from several categories of the transport sub-sector (including off-road diesel transportation, domestic avaition and railways) and from fugitive sources related to oil and gas. The economic recession that occurred throughout 2009 affected economic activity levels in various British Columbia sectors. Within the energy sector over the three-year period between 2007 and 2010, transport emissions decreased by 4.3 per cent while emissions from fugitive sources increased by 8.2 per cent and emissions from stationary combustion sources decreased by 6.2 per cent.

Industrial Process Sector – Emissions reported under the industrial process category decreased by 4.9 per cent between 2007 and 2010 and decreased by 5.4 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Factors influencing these trends include decreases in process emissions from the production of aluminum, increased consumption of halocarbons and changes in other and undifferentiated production.

Solvent and Other Product Use Sector – Emissions for this sector decreased by 24.8 per cent between 2007 and 2010 and by 45.7 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Changes in emissions trends in this sector can be expected as the sector only represents 0.1 per cent of the overall emissions for British Columbia.

Agriculture Sector – Annual agriculture sector emissions decreased by 11.7 per cent between 2007 and 2010, and by 13.3 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Changes can be attributed in most part to changes in livestock (e.g. cattle) population. The largest source of agriculture emissions is methane (CH4) emissions from enteric fermentation.

Waste Sector – Waste sector emissions increased by 1.3 per cent between 2007 and 2010 and by 5.4 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Increases in the quantity of waste generated and sent to landfills have recently been balanced by the emissions reductions associated with diversion of wastes and the capture, flaring and beneficial use of CH4 at landfills.

Afforestation and Deforestation – Net emissions in the afforestation and deforestation sector were approximately 2.9 Mt CO2e in 2010, 4.7 per cent of total B.C. emissions. This included 2.92 Mt CO2e of emissions from deforestation and 0.018 Mt CO2e of removals from afforestation. Net GHG emissions from afforestation and deforestation decreased 17.2 per cent between 2007 and 2010 and 24.8 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Net emissions are influenced primarily by the size of deforested area and forest characteristics (i.e., geographic location, growing conditions, tree species, density and age). Decreases in emissions can be attributed to decreases in the area of deforestation from year to year, particularly in the agricultural sector.

Other Land Use (Memo items not included in total B.C. GHG emissions) – Emissions associated with “other land use” categories increased by approximately 88 per cent between 2007 and 2010. From 2000 to 2010, “other land use” categories collectively changed from a net sink of GHGs (approximately 30.7 Mt CO2e removed from the atmosphere in 2000) to a net source in 2010 (approximately 81.6 Mt CO2e emitted to the atmosphere). This transition can be attributed in large part to the impacts of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak – which attacked living forests that act as a sink for GHGs and resulted in large areas of dead and decomposing trees. Net emissions associated with these categories are also influenced by wildfires, slash burning and wood harvesting. The large area affected by forested fires in 2010 caused reported emissions to jump by 15.9 Mt from 2009.

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Key Data Tables

Data used in the Provincial GHG Inventory Report is made publicly available for transparency and educational purposes, as well as to provide data for years not presented in the text version due to space limitations.

This data can be downloaded in Microsoft Excel format by clicking on the links below.

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Click here for archived past reports

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Additional Resources

Contact

Comments or questions regarding the report can be sent to: ghgreporting@gov.bc.ca