See also:

Greenhouse gas emissions for Canada
 
Greenhouse gas levels

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op

What is happening?

• These graphs show the annual changes in the release of greenhouse gases (expressed as the number of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide).
• Compared with the Yukon, the NWT has over three times the rate of emissions and this stems from their larger population and higher rates of resource development.
• In 2010 about 29% of the NWT emissions for the year were attributed to mining and fossil fuel production while the comparable figure for the Yukon was 7%.
• The NWT burns more fossil fuel to produce electricity than the Yukon does. In 2010 hydro electricity (which releases no greenhouse gases during operation) accounted for 95% of Yukon electrical production but only 32% in the NWT.

Why is it happening?

• The release of greenhouse gases increases when we burn fossil fuels, change some land practices such as clearing forests or allow gases, such as methane, to escape from landfills.

Why is it important?

• Human activities that release greenhouse gases will contribute to global warming.
• The Borderlands study area has been experiencing significant warming in recent decades and this raises concerns about the future impacts of these changes in climate.

Technical Notes

• These data were obtained from the 2010 report titled National Inventory Report 1990–2008: Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada available from Environment Canada.
• Units are in kt or kilotonnes and equal 1,000 kg.
• Emission data for the NWT is tracked from 1999 when the separate territory of Nunavut was created.
• Canada is following an international monitoring effort to track 6 gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons. The release of each gas is estimated and converted to a equivalent amount of carbon dioxide based on the global warming potential of each individual gas.