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

Petition: 390E

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

Petitioner(s): A Canadian organization

Petitioner location(s): Ottawa, Ontario

Date received: 31 March 2023

Status: Completed—Response(s) to petition received

Summary: This petition is a follow‑up to petition 390 and its follow‑up petitions (petitions 390B, 390C and 390D).

The follow‑up petition reasserts that Canada’s national inventory reports do not report downstream emissions from fossil fuels that are extracted in Canada and exported internationally and that this “paints an incomplete picture of Canada’s overall contributions to climate change.” The petition seeks updated estimates for amounts provided in response to questions raised in petition 390D using aggregate quantities of exported and re‑exported fossil fuels recorded for 2022 instead of the 2021 totals used in previous responses.

The petition refers to the total exports reported by the Vancouver and Prince Rupert port authorities and asks for clarification of the discrepancies between the much‑lower thermal‑coal export totals indicated in the response to petition 390D and the total that the port authorities reported. It questions whether the “re‑exports” used to determine the totals included in‑transit shipments or temporary exports of thermal coal and other fossil fuels passing through Canada. If the re‑exports included these items, the petition seeks the reason for the discrepancy in the 2021 totals provided in the response to petition 390D. If these items were not included in the re‑exports, the petition asks for the aggregate quantities of certain fossil fuels reported as in‑transit shipments or temporary exports from 2016 to 2022 and a breakdown of the method of transport for the export of each fossil fuel for the same period. Furthermore, the petition requests a breakdown by fossil‑fuel type of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the combustion of the in‑transit shipments and temporary exports that passed through Canada for the same period.

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