Data sources

The greenhouse gas emissions indicator comes directly from the NIR and has not undergone any further manipulation. Data used to develop the NIR come from published as well as non-published sources from various government departments, scientific papers, and internationally accepted IPCC reference documents.

The sections below provide a brief outline of the data sources that were used to calculate emissions for each source category. A comprehensive detailing of all data sources used can be found in Chapters 3 through 8 of the NIR (Environment Canada, 2005), disaggregated by sector and sub-sector.

Energy
Industrial processes
Solvent and other product use
Agriculture
Waste

Energy

Many of the data used to estimate stationary and mobile fuel combustion emissions are acquired from Statistics Canada.

Certain sub-sectors require data from additional sources to assess emissions more completely. Some of the data sets used to estimate emissions from road transport activities, for example, are found in Table 5.

An inventory of fugitive emissions from Canadian coal mining operations is used as the basis for estimating emission factors for releases associated with the mining of solid fuels (King, 1994). These emission factors are multiplied by coal production data from Statistics Canada. Fugitive emission estimates from the oil and natural gas industry are based on two studies (Radian International, 1997; Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, 1999), using data collected from various sources, such as the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Natural Resources Canada, and provincial energy ministries.

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Industrial processes

Activity data used to develop estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from some of Canada’s industrial processes, using either default IPCC or industry-specific emission factors, are outlined in Table 6.

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Solvent and other product use

Emission factors for this sector were developed based on 1990 population statistics and the nitrous oxide consumption patterns. Population data from Statistics Canada’s Annual Demographic Statistics (Statistics Canada, 2004b) were multiplied by each of the emission factors to estimate emissions for this sector.

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Agriculture

Statistics Canada livestock population data were used in conjunction with IPCC Tier-1 or Tier-2 emission factors to produce estimates of emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management. Livestock categories for which population data are available include cattle (dairy and non-dairy), buffalo, sheep and lambs, goats, horses, swine and poultry. These data are obtained from Statistics Canada’s Census of Agriculture and other annual reports.

Emissions of nitrous oxide from synthetic fertilizers are calculated using annual fertilizer sales data from regional fertilizer associations, combined with the IPCC default emission factor. To produce emission estimates from animal manure applied to soils and manure on pasture, range and paddock, the same data sources are used as for manure management emissions. Crop production data from Statistics Canada are applied to the default IPCC emission factor to produce estimates of emissions from nitrogen-fixing crops and crop residue decomposition. The area of cultivated organic soils obtained through consultations with national and regional soil and crop specialists is applied to the IPCC default emission factor to generate emission estimate for histosols.

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Waste

A variety of data sources were used to collect activity data to produce solid waste emission estimates. These sources include Environment Canada (1996), Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (1998), Statistics Canada (2004b), Natural Resources Canada (1997), and various other unpublished waste inventories.

Provincial-level data was required to determine methane emissions from landfills. Using inputs from the above-mentioned sources, the Scholl Canyon model was used to estimate emissions (Environment Canada, 2005:118). This model relates emission contributions to the waste that has been landfilled in previous years, as opposed to the static, default method, which relates emissions to the quantity of waste landfilled in that year only.

Wastewater handling emission estimates were developed using specific emission rates based on the amount of organic matter generated per person in Canada. These emission rates were then multiplied by the amount of wastewater treated anaerobically in each province and then by the population of each province.