Follow-up petition on the quantification of Canada’s total carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions from exported fossil fuels

Petition: 390D

Issue(s): Climate change; Compliance and enforcement; Governance; International cooperation

Petitioner(s): A Canadian organization

Petitioner location(s): Toronto, Ontario

Date received: 17 August 2022

Status: Completed—Response(s) to petition received

Summary: This petition is a follow-up petition to petition 390, “Quantification of Canada’s total carbon dioxide (CO²)emissions from exported fossil fuels,” and its follow-up petitions (petitions 390B and 390C).

This petition asserts that Canada’s national inventory reports do not report downstream emissions from fossil fuels that are extracted in Canada and exported internationally. The petition claims that the Government of Canada underreports carbon emissions and thus, “paints an incomplete picture of Canada’s overall contributions to climate change.” The petition asks responsible departments to disclose total emission levels, noting that the government must account for all of the life cycle emissions from fossil fuels that are extracted in and exported from Canada annually. The petition requests estimates for emissions related to these fossil fuels, for fossil fuels that are re-exported through Canada, and for downstream emissions.

Moreover, the petition highlights that the response to petition 390 noted that there was no official government inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from exported fossil fuels at the time because the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change did not require this kind of reporting. However, the framework requires that parties to the convention communicate “any other information that the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention.” The petition asks the responsible departments to outline why the government has determined that emissions resulting from the combustion of exported fossil fuels are not considered relevant to the convention’s objective. Moreover, the petition requests that responsible departments include any sources or policy documents or describe the methodology they used in making this determination.

Federal departments/organizations responsible for reply: Environment and Climate Change Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Transport Canada