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  1. Businesses operating in Canada spent $9.5 billion in 2010 to protect the environment, up 9% from 2008. Following a long-standing trend, the largest share of these expenditures was spent to deal with pollutants after they were created.
  2. The oil and gas extraction industry spent more on environmental protection than any other industry surveyed, followed by the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry, accounting for 42% and 12% of the total for 2010 respectively.
  3. Of the $4.2 billion in capital expenditures made for environmental protection, the majority was for pollution abatement and control (35%) followed by pollution prevention (26%).
  4. Provincially, businesses in Alberta spent the most in capital to protect the environment ($2.0 billion) followed by British Columbia ($496 million). The large investments in Alberta are mainly due to high expenditures made by the oil and gas extraction industry.
  5. Operating expenditures for environmental protection totaled $5.3 billion in 2010, up 8% from 2008. The majority of these expenditures were directed towards waste management and sewerage services ($1.6 billion) followed by pollution abatement and control processes ($1.2 billion).
  6. The oil and gas extraction industry had the highest operating expenditures for environmental protection in 2010, reporting over half a billion in expenditures each for site reclamation and decommissioning and for pollution prevention processes. Provincially, Alberta had the highest operating expenditures for environmental protection followed by Ontario ($2.1 billion and $1.1 billion respectively).
  7. In 2010, businesses spent $455 million in capital for renewable energy technologies. Investment was highest for biomass energy technologies which accounted for over three quarters of the total.
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