Frequently Asked Questions

Federal Government Initiatives

In 2004, Environment Canada introduced mandatory annual reporting of criteria air contaminants (CACs) to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), legislated under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).  CACs include sulphur dioxide (SO₂), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and particulate matter (PM_T, PM₁₀, and PM_2.5). 

Previous CAC reporting exemptions for small oil and gas facilities were removed.  As a result, thousands of facilities from the oil and gas sector were required to begin reporting their emissions annually to Environment Canada, if they exceeded the emissions thresholds.  Affected facilities can include:  gas processing facilities, field compressors, gas batteries, oil batteries, and wellsites with combustion equipment (including flares).

In 2005, the Federal Government also announced the requirement for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases from facilities exceeding 100,000 tonnes of direct carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂E) emissions per year.  This threshold for reporting is expected to drop in order to encompass more facilities within the next few years.

In October 2006, the Conservative Government of Canada published a Notice of Intent to regulate air emissions, which provides the basis for the Clean Air Regulatory Agenda.  It provides a regulatory framework for short-term industrial emission reduction targets.  The Clean Air Regulatory Agenda is the cornerstone of the government’s broader efforts to address the challenges of climate change and air pollution.  For the first time in Canada, there will be regulations setting mandatory and enforceable reduction targets for emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants from all major industrial sources.

Because industrial emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants each account for 50% of Canada’s total emissions and share many common sources, the coordination of requirements will allow firms to make cost-effective decisions to maximize synergies in reducing their emissions.  The industrial regulations will cover facilities in the following sectors:  oil and gas, electricity generation produced by combustion, forest products, smelting and refining, iron and steel, some mining, as well as cement, lime, and chemicals.

To put industry on the path to contribute to deep long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the government intends to put in place short-term emission reduction targets that will come into force in 2010.  For existing facilities, the emission-intensity reduction target for each sector is based on an improvement of 6% each year from 2007 to 2010.  This yields an initial enforceable reduction of 18% from 2006 emission-intensity levels in 2010.  Every year thereafter, a 2% continuous emission intensity improvement will be required, resulting in an industrial emission-intensity reduction of 26% by 2015.  Targets for new facilities will be established based on cleaner fuel standards.  These targets will result in absolute reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases from industry as early as 2010 and no later than 2012, even if the economy grows as expected.

Turning now to air pollutants, the government stated in the Notice of Intent that it would set fixed targets that “are at least as rigorous as those in the U.S. or other environmental performance leading countries”.  National emission caps will be set for each pollutant of concern.  The national emission caps represent the following percentage reductions from 2006 levels:  40% for nitrogen oxides (NO_x), 55% for sulphur oxides (SO_x), 45% for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 20% for particulate matter (PM).  Limits will also be set for other air pollutants such as mercury from electricity generation, and benzene emissions from the natural gas, as well as iron and steel sectors.  The targets for air pollutants will come into force as early as 2012.  Sector-specific regulations will be developed, with publication of the draft regulations in the Canada Gazette, Part I, starting in spring 2008.  With this regulatory framework, Canada will have one of the most stringent sets of regulated targets for greenhouse gases and air pollutants in the world.

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