Alberta's emissions down slightly but still make up lion's share of Canada's greenhouse gas

The oil and gas sector remains by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta, which remains by far the largest emitter of all the provinces, but its share of Canada's total emissions has declined — slightly.

Alberta's emissions totalled 270 megatonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent in 2022, according to the latest National Inventory Report, which was released Thursday.

That's down ever so slightly from the province's 271 megatonnes in 2021.

Alberta accounted for 38 per cent of the country's total emissions in 2022, down from 39 per cent the year before.

The declines are due largely to plummeting emissions from Alberta's electricity generation as the province continues to phase out its coal-fired power plants.

Alberta produced 19 megatonnes of emissions from its electricity sector in 2022, which is less than half of what the sector was emitting five years earlier.

«It's significant … especially considering that our province is growing and electricity demand is growing,» said Marie Christine Bouchard with the Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think tank.

«You're still seeing that substantial reduction associated with not producing electricity with coal.»

Emissions from the oil and gas sector totalled just over 158 megatonnes in 2022.

That's down by half a megatonne compared to a year earlier, even while oil production in the province increased.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault highlighted that as some «good news» in latest inventory report, which Canada is required to submit to the United Nations under the terms of the Paris Agreement.

«Methane emissions are going down in the oil and gas sector,» Guilbeault told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.

«They will need to come down substantially more,» he added.

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