See also:

Greenhouse gas emissions for Canada
 
Greenhouse gas levels

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op

What is happening?

• These graphs show annual changes in the release of greenhouse gases (expressed in terms of the number of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide). Emission data for the NWT becomes available in 1999 when the separate territory of Nunavut was created.
• 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.
• The large increase in the NWT in 2001 comes in part from increased releases in mining and the oil and gas industries. For example 77 kt was released by those sectors in 1999 and the resource boom in 2001 increased this to 418 kt (24% of the entire territory's releases in 2001).
• The NWT burns more fuel to produce electricity in power plants than the Yukon does. In 2001 hydro electricity (which releases no greenhouse gases) accounted for 88% of Yukon electrical production but only 54% in the NWT. As a result the NWT releases over 20 times as much carbon dioxide from stationary power plants as the Yukon.

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 Greenhouse Gas database of Environment Canada:
• Units are in kt or kilotonnes and equal 1,000 kg.
• 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.