Sask. emissions remain Canada's highest per capita: new data

Arthur White-Crummey 

POSTMEDIA 4/14/2021

Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by a single megatonne in 2019, as the province remained an outsized contributor to Canada’s stubbornly high totals.

© Provided by Leader Post Emissions from the refinery rise into the sky at dusk on a winter evening.

The province’s carbon dioxide equivalent emissions fell from 76 megatonnes in 2018 to 75 megatonnes in 2019, according to Canada’s updated emissions inventory released this month. That’s 10.3 per cent of Canada’s total of 730 megatonnes, despite the fact that Saskatchewan makes up just three per cent of the national population. Saskatchewan has the highest per capita emissions of any province, slightly outdoing Alberta.

A megatonne is a million tonnes. Emissions are reported in relation to carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, making allowance for the higher emissions intensity of other greenhouse gases.

As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, Canada has committed to reduce its emissions by 30 per cent compared to 2005 levels by 2030. But the 2019 data showed that the national total is down a mere one per cent over 14 years.

Most regions have headed in the right direction, with some already meeting the target. But steady or rising emissions elsewhere — especially in Saskatchewan and Alberta — have undone those positive trends. As of 2019, Saskatchewan’s emissions were 10 per cent above 2005 levels.

During a brief conversation in the hallways of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, Premier Scott Moe remarked that comparing Saskatchewan’s emissions to its population is a poor gauge of progress. Economic output is a more significant metric. He noted that Saskatchewan’s emissions declined by a megatonne even amid strong exports.

However, exports fell by three per cent in 2019 in the face of barriers in China, though they increased the following year. The economy shrank slightly in 2019, by 0.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data using basic prices .

NDP Leader Ryan Meili accused the Saskatchewan Party government of taking “zero action on climate change.” In his view, explaining away high emissions by appeal to economic growth misses the point.

“The fact of the matter is the planet doesn’t care,” said Meili.

“We need to make the change,” he added. “This is a world crisis. Just saying, ‘It’s OK because we got richer’ isn’t a particularly good argument when you’re talking to the countries around the world that are underwater.”

But Environment Minister Warren Kaeding said the province’s climate plan, Prairie Resilience, is working despite flatlining emissions since it was released in 2017. He said several key sectors, including oil and gas, have improved their emissions performance in light of methane regulations in the plan.

“Just now, we’re starting to really gain momentum and really start working on our progress,” he said, laying special emphasis on SaskPower’s renewable energy targets that seek to reduce electricity emissions by 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

The province has also devoted significant attention to non-emitting small-modular nuclear reactors, and Moe is expected to join other premiers to release a feasibility study on the technology Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Moe appeared virtually before a U.S. congressional committee on Tuesday to argue for the Keystone XL pipeline project, which President Joe Biden cancelled upon assuming office. Moe called it a “shortsighted decision.”

He noted that Saskatchewan is aiming to increase its oil exports to 600,000 barrels per year. He said cancelling Keystone XL will “have negative consequences for our environment.” The premier argued that Saskatchewan’s oil industry has a strong environmental record, especially compared to alternatives like Russia.

“We’re told that the pipeline should not proceed for environmental reasons and this is to support the fight against climate change. But ladies and gentlemen, oil can and most certainly will get to market somehow,” he said. “It will just go by a different route.”

Saskatchewan’s economy remains centred on resource industries like the oil and gas sector, which was responsible for about 26 per cent of Canada’s total emissions in 2019. Agriculture, another provincial mainstay, contributes another 10 per cent of the national total.

Transportation is the second most emissions-intensive sector in Canada at 25 per cent.

Kaeding acknowledged last week that the provincial government has no specific policies targeting transportation emissions in its climate plan .

Electricity generation accounts for a bit more than eight per cent of emissions in Canada. Compared to other provinces, Saskatchewan is still heavily reliant on coal, which emits more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than any other fuel commonly in use.

Climate scientists are virtually unanimous in concluding that emissions from human activities are causing a gradual but eventually catastrophic warming of the planet. Carbon dioxide levels have risen higher than at any time in the past 800,000 years.

The warming is expected to continue as more gas is emitted, leading to rising sea levels, more extreme weather, worsened agricultural production and extinctions.

awhite-crummey@postmedia.com