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Oilsands | Pembina Institute
 
Alberta's Oilsands Climate Impacts Water Impacts Tailings Reclamation Air Pollution

Climate Impacts

Average greenhouse gas emissions for oilsands extraction and upgrading are estimated to be 3.2 to 4.5 times as intensive per barrel as for conventional crude oil produced in Canada or the United States.1
  • On average, producing one barrel of synthetic crude oil from oilsands results in 111 kilograms of CO2 equivalent emissions.2 The greenhouse gas emissions from individual projects vary considerably because of differences in technologies, practices and oilsands quality from project to project.
  • Mining techniques of the oilsands result in 62 to 164 kilograms of CO2 equivalent emissions per barrel.3
  • In situ techniques result in 99 to 176 kilograms of CO2 equivalent emissions per barrel.4
  • Average emissions per barrel for conventional crude oil production are 35.2 kilograms of CO2 equivalent in Canada and 24.5 kilograms of CO2 equivalent in the U.S.5
About 6.5 per cent of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions come from oilsands plants and upgraders.6
  • Oilsands plants and upgraders produced 45 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2009, an increase of 22 million tonnes over 2000 levels.7
Oilsands are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.8
  • Emissions from oilsands more than doubled in the past two decades.9 Planned growth under current provincial and federal policies indicates greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands will continue to rise resulting in a doubling of emissions between 2009 and 2020, from 45 in 2009 to 92 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020.10 
  • Overall, Canada’s annual GHG emissions are projected to increase by 54 Mt between 2005 and 2020, under currently announced federal and provincial policies.11 Emissions from the oilsands (including emissions from upgrading) are projected to grow by 62 Mt over the same period.12 Because the ups and downs in emissions in other sectors largely cancel each other out, essentially the entire projected increase in Canada’s emissions between 2005 and 2020 will come from the oilsands.
If Alberta were a country, its per capita greenhouse gas emissions would be higher than any other country in the world.
  • At a rate of 69 tonnes CO2 equivalent per person, if Alberta were a country, it would have per capita emissions more than three times that of either the U.S. or Canada.13,14
  • Internationally, Qatar had the highest emissions intensity in 2007 (48.8 tonnes per person) and Canada ranked ninth (17.7 tonnes per person).15 


1. National Energy Technology Laboratory, Development of Baseline Data and Analysis of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Petroleum-Based Fuels, DOE/NETL-2009/1346 (2008), 12, table 2-4.

2. National Energy Technology Laboratory, Development of Baseline Data and Analysis of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Petroleum-Based Fuels, 12, table 2-5.

3. Alex Charpentier, Joule Bergerson and Heather MacLean, "Understanding the Canadian oil sands industry's greenhouse gas emissions,"  Environmental Research Letters 4 no.1 (2009): 014005.

4. Alex Charpentier, Joule Bergerson and Heather MacLean, "Understanding the Canadian oil sands industry's greenhouse gas emissions."

5. National Energy Technology Laboratory, Development of Baseline Data and Analysis of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Petroleum-Based Fuels, 12, table 2-4.

6. National emissions totaled 690 Mt in 2009 according to Environment Canada's "National Inventory Report - Part 1 1990-2008 Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada" (accessed December 22, 2010). The value for 2009 oilsands emissions was provided in an e-mail communication from Environment Canada officials.

7. Environment Canada, "National Inventory Report - Part 1 1990-2008 Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada", 86. Note: the value for 2009 was provided in an e-mail communication from Environment Canada officials.

8. The ecoENERGY Carbon Capture and Storage Task Force, "Canada's Fossil Energy Future"  (Natural Resources Canada, 2008).

9. Oilsands emissions have grown from 17 Mt in 1990 to 45 Mt in 2009. (Environment Canada, "National Inventory Report - Part 1 1990-2008 Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada" , 86.) Note: the value for 2009 was provided in an e-mail communication from Environment Canada officials.

10. Environment Canada, “Canada’s Emissions Trends” (2011) 25, table 5.

11. Environment Canada, “Canada’s Emissions Trends” (2011) 22, table 3.

12. Environment Canada, “Canada’s Emissions Trends” (2011) 25, table 5.

13. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990 - 2008 (accessed December 22, 2010)

14. Alberta's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 were 244 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. (Environment Canada, "National Inventory Report - Part 3 1990-2008 Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada") Alberta's population in 2008 was estimated to be 3.51 million people. (Alberta Finance, Alberta Population Report (2008) (accessed December 22, 2010)).

15. World Resources Institute, Climate Analysis Indicators Tool: Yearly Emissions (accessed February 16, 2011).

updated January 2012