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Title

Extracted Carbon: Re-examining Canada’s Contribution to Climate Change through Fossil Fuel Export

Description

This study re-examines Canada’s contribution to global climate change in light of the Paris Agreement by looking at extracted carbon - the total amount of fossil fuels removed from Canadian soil that ends up in the atmosphere -whether used for domestic purposes, or exported and combusted elsewhere. It concludes that “Plans to further grow Canada’s exports of fossil fuels are thus contradictory to the spirit and intentions of the Paris Agreement. Growing our exports could only happen if some other producing countries agreed to keep their fossil fuel reserves in the ground. The problem with new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, like Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants and bitumen pipelines, is that they lock us in to a high-emissions trajectory for several decades to come, giving up on the 1.5 to 2°C limits of Paris.” It follows that “Canadian climate policy must consider supply-side measures such as rejecting new fossil fuel infrastructure and new leases for exploration and drilling, increasing royalties, and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.” This paper updates and expands a 2011 Climate Justice Project publication, Peddling GHGs: What is the Carbon Footprint of Canada’s Fossil Fuel Exports?, co-authored with Amanda Card.

Identifier (PID)

yul:1122028