Since 2015, the federal government has committed over $200 billion, and introduced more than 100 measures, to support climate action.

Among other things, the government ratified the Paris Agreement, negotiated the Pan-Canadian Framework Agreement on Clean Growth and Climate Change with the provinces and territories, put a price on pollution, invested heavily in public transit, set targets for the adoption of electric vehicles, and committed to implementing a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. 

As a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the government is required to submit National Inventory Reports every year that provide data on the level of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The government recently submitted its report for 2021.

The numbers show real progress. In 2021, Canada’s emissions were 53 megatonnes (MT) less than the pre-pandemic year of 2019, and 62 MT below 2005 levels. This means we are almost a quarter of the way to our 2030 emissions-reduction goal of 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels. In fact, Canada had the best performance in terms of GHG-emissions reduction of all the G7 countries in both 2020 and 2021. Also, the emissions intensity for the entire Canadian economy (GHG per gross domestic product [GDP]) has declined by 42 percent since 1990 and 29 percent since 2005.

The oil and gas sector is the largest contributor to Canada’s GHG emissions, representing 28 percent of Canada’s total emissions. The government has committed to capping the sector’s emissions. In November 2022, it published a proposed framework to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector — by far the most potent GHGs and the main component of natural gas — by 40 to 45 percent by 2025 relative to 2012 emissions and by at least 75 percent by 2030. The government is currently developing a framework to cap the sector’s emissions more broadly.

The good news is that oil and gas emissions peaked eight years ago and have since fallen by 7 percent. This is largely because of a series of federal and provincial actions, including federal regulations on fugitive emissions (leaks from connections between, for example, valves and equipment) and venting (controlled releases, for example during well completion, well maintenance and pipeline maintenance).

There remains much work to do, by all countries, to halt climate change. But the plan we have put in place in Canada is beginning to show tangible and hopeful results. It is crucial to maintain the course.