2023 Progress Report on the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Annexes
Annex 1: Definitions and methodology
A1.1 Glossary
Adaptation: The adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic effects. Usually done so to moderate potential damages.
Article 6: As a part of the Paris Agreement, Article 6 allows countries to voluntarily cooperate with each other to achieve emissions reduction targets as set out in their respective Nationally Determined Contributions. It does so by establishing a mechanism for trading GHG emissions reductions between countries under the supervision of the Conference of the Parties. Under Article 6, emissions reductions can be authorized to be sold by one country’s government to another country, with the receiving counting it towards their emissions reduction total.
Atlantic Loop Initiative: The development of electricity infrastructure to facilitate cross-jurisdictional electricity transportation in the provinces of Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
Backcasting: An illustrative scenario which is based on all policies and measures included in the “Bottom-Up Approach” and is calibrated to achieve the established target level. The results from the backcasting scenario should not be construed as signaling policy intentions, but rather as an illustration of what the modelling framework suggests are economically efficient opportunities to reach pre‑determined emissions reductions.
Backstop provinces or territories: Those jurisdictions in which the federal carbon pollution pricing system applies in whole or in part.
Bank of Canada: Canada’s central bank, separate from the political process, which influences and controls monetary policy including the supply of money and key interest rates.
Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs), sometimes also referred to as Best Management Practices: Any management practice that reduces environmental risk, usually in an agricultural setting. “Beneficial” is the preferred term in agricultural systems rather than “best” as “beneficial” allows for multiple complimentary practices that can be used to address specific operational needs and environmental goals. Conversely, “best” implies that there is only one practice that is acceptable and does not take into diverse operations, productions systems, landscapes and climates.
Biennial Report (BR): A report that each participating country provides to the UNFCCC. It is submitted every two years and includes a national inventory of emissions, description of steps taken to implement the Convention, and other relevant information.
Biennial Transparency Report (BTR): A report that will be submitted in accordance with the UNFCCC’s Enhanced Transparency Framework. Will provide information on emissions reduction actions.
Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs): Account for differing carbon costs incurred in the production of goods across borders. Forms and designs may vary, but the general goal is to maintain a level of carbon pricing on goods being imported and exported, such as through import charges and export rebates.
Bottom-up Modelling: An approach that uses a detailed bottom-up simulation model where energy data is allocated to economic sectors. This approach provides a floor for projected emissions reductions achievable from existing climate measures.
Canada Energy Regulator: A governmental body that reviews energy development projects, shares energy information, and enforces safety and environmental standards.
Canada Gazette (CG): The official newspaper of the Government of Canada. Reports on new statutes, regulations, administrative board decisions, and public notes.
Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB): Is a Crown corporation that invests in revenue-generating infrastructure projects in the public interest, and seeks to attract private and institutional capital. Investments include clean power, green infrastructure, public transit, trade and transportation, and broadband infrastructure.
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME): The CCME is a body composed of the environment ministers from the Government of Canada, and provincial and territorial governments. The CCME is designed to discuss and set national environmental priorities as well as increase collaboration in accomplishing specific goals.
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI): This program provides data and information to track Canada’s performance on key environmental sustainability issues including climate change and air quality, water quality and availability, and protecting nature.
Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (CNZEAA): Passed in June 2021, enshrines in legislation the Government of Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and to a process of open and transparent planning and reporting on the road to 2050. This includes setting targets for milestone years and developing associated Emissions Reduction Plans, Progress Reports and Assessment Reports. The Act also includes provisions related to annual financial reporting, to regular reporting by the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development, and establishes the Net-Zero Advisory Body as a Governor in Council appointed advisory body.
Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS): The process of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion, industrial processes or directly from the atmosphere. Captured CO2 emissions can be stored in underground geological formations, onshore or offshore, or used as an input or feedstock in manufacturing.
Carbon management: Carbon management refers to an ecosystem of technologies and approaches that help to reduce and remove CO2 emissions. It encompasses any activities that capture, utilize, or store CO2, or that connect these activities. It includes, but is not limited to:
- CCUS technologies that mitigate point-source emissions; and,
- Carbon dioxide removal approaches like direct air capture to carbon storage (DACCS), biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), and enhanced carbon mineralization.
Climate Change: Refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD): Provides parliamentarians and Canadians with objective, independent analysis, and recommendations on the Government of Canada’s efforts to lower emissions.
Conference of the Parties (COP): The COP is the decision-making body of the UNFCCC. All states that are Parties to the UNFCCC are represented, at which they review the implementation of the UNFCCC and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts. COP sessions are held in order to facilitate international discussion, with the next one, COP 28 in Dubai, set to begin at the end of November 2023.
Constitution Act, 1867: An act of the Constitution of Canada that laid out the governance systems and structure that persist today. This includes the Parliament of Canada, as well as the role and jurisdiction held by the Government of Canada, as well as the provinces and territories.
Emissions Intensity: Compares the amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted per unit of activity or any other specific metric. Often reported as greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP.
Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP): A long-term strategic document built to transparently communicate the policies, actions, developments, regulations, programs, and incentives that the Government of Canada is implementing to reduce carbon emissions.
Federal–Provincial–Territorial (FPT): A term to recognize the relationship between the Government of Canada, and provincial and territorial governments.
Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS): The federal government’s primary vehicle for sustainable development planning and reporting. It sets out federal sustainable development priorities, establishes goals and targets, and identifies actions to achieve them.
Fugitive Sources Category: Emissions from unintentional or intentional release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Such as venting and leaks from oil and natural gas production and processing.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions (also known as carbon emissions): The quantifiable gases produced by human actions and released into the atmosphere. These gases are the main contributor to the increase in average global temperature.
- Source: A GHG source is any action or part of Canada’s built or natural environment that releases GHGs.
- Sink: Any source, natural or built, that absorbs GHGs.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Gross Domestic Product is the total market value of all finished goods and services produced within a country during a specific period of time. Often used as a measure of economic performance.
Group of Seven (G7): A forum of seven of the world’s advanced economies, including: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Group of Twenty (G20): The G20 is a forum for international cooperation among world leading developed and emerging economies. It includes: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs): A group of synthetic gases primarily used for cooling and refrigeration. Many HFCs are very powerful, short-lived climate pollutants.
Hydrogen:
- Grey Hydrogen: Uses an industrial process called steam methane reforming which uses high temperature steam to separate hydrogen from methane (the main component of natural gas). This process releases emissions.
- Blue Hydrogen: Uses the same method as grey hydrogen, except it captures and stores the emissions generated from the steam methane reforming process. Can also use other methods to separate hydrogen from methane, namely autothermal reforming.
- Green Hydrogen: Utilizes renewable electricity and a process called electrolysis to separate and extract hydrogen molecules from water—a non-emitting method of hydrogen production, assuming electricity used came from non-emitting generation.
- Low-carbon / clean hydrogen: Encompasses any hydrogen production pathway that is low‑carbon, including “green”, “blue”, hydrogen derived from biomass with carbon capture and storage, methane pyrolysis, or other innovative production methods.
Indigenous Science: Indigenous science is a distinct, time-tested, and methodological knowledge system that can enhance and complement western science. Indigenous science is about the knowledge of the environment and knowledge of the ecosystem held by Indigenous Peoples. It is the knowledge of survival since time immemorial and includes multiple systems of knowledge(s) such as the knowledge of plants, the weather, animal behavior and patterns, birds, and water among others. It is of great importance to bridge, braid, and weave Indigenous science with western science approaches to inform and enhance decision-making at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels.
Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs): Represent real, verified and additional GHG emissions reductions or removals that are authorized and transferred between Parties participating in a voluntary cooperative approach under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement or authorized by a host country for other international mitigation purposes.
Interties: Transmission lines that connect separate electric grids, enabling the trade of electricity between jurisdictions.
Job-years: A way to describe employment effects of a program. A job year means one job for one year.
Light-Duty Vehicle (LDV): Vehicles primarily used to transport passengers and some cargo, including cars, vans, SUVs, and pickup trucks. In Canada, these vehicles have a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 8,500 pounds.
Livestock (Enteric Fermentation): Digestive process in ruminant animals like cattle where carbohydrates are broken down by microorganisms into simple molecules to support animal growth, development and energy needs. A by-product of this process is methane.
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (MHDV): Vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of greater than 8,500 pounds used across a wide range of activities, including parcel delivery, garbage trucks, buses, long-haul tractor-trailers, and more.
Megatonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2 eq): The amount of a greenhouse gas that has the same warming potential as one million tonnes (a megatonne) of carbon dioxide over a specified period of time.
Mitigation: The implementation of measures that avoid or reduce greenhouse gases with the aim of preventing climate change.
National Communication (NC): Reports that were submitted to the UNFCCC every four years to communicate actions undertaken by the country to reduce emissions.
National Inventory Report (NIR): Canada’s official national greenhouse gas inventory submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It includes an inventory of human-induced emission by source, and removals by sink, of seven greenhouse gases.
Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC): Articulates the ambition and effort of each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. It does so by submitting the respective country’s emissions reduction target, how to monitor progress, and how to reach it.
Net Zero (also known as carbon neutrality): Refers to an economy or other organization that balances the emission of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere against the greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere.
Net-Zero Advisory Body (NZAB): Launched in 2021 and is comprised of up to 15 experts from across Canada that provide independent advice on how Canada can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Output‑Based Pricing System (OBPS): A regulatory emissions trading system for industry. It is designed to provide industry with a monetary incentive to reduce industrial emissions, and spur innovation. It is one of two parts to Canada’s price on carbon pollution.
Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCF): A plan developed collaboratively with the provinces and territories, and in consultation with Indigenous Peoples, to meet Canada’s emissions reduction targets.
Paris Agreement: A legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted at COP 21 in Paris. Set an overarching goal to limit the increase in the global average temperature to below two degrees Celsius. Since 2020, countries have been submitting increasingly ambitious climate plans known as nationally determined contributions.
Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D): Research and experimental development comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge—including knowledge of humankind, culture and society—and to devise new applications of available knowledge. Demonstration refers to the design, construction and operation of a prototype of a technology at or near commercial scale with the purpose of providing technical, economic and environmental information to industrialists, financiers, regulators and policy makers.
Residential Stationary Combustion Sources Category: Residential sources that combust fuel for the purpose of producing heat and other uses.
Small Modular Reactors (SMR): Nuclear reactors that are smaller than traditional nuclear power plants. They can vary in size, design, and cooling types.
Stationary Combustion Sources Category: Sources that combust solid, liquid, gaseous, or waste fuel for the purpose of producing useful heat or work.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC): An organization, supported by the Government of Canada, that funds and assists small and medium sized enterprises engaging in innovative emissions reductions and other climate related technologies.
Synthetic Gases: Man-made chemicals, commonly used in refrigeration, foam production, aerosols, and more. They include gases such as HFCs, PFCs, SF6, and NF3.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP): Establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the Indigenous Peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of Indigenous Peoples.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 1994, with the ultimate goal of preventing anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system. Participating countries submit documents such as Nationally Determined Contributions, to illustrate their role in reducing emissions.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs): A set of 17 calls for action that the United Nations has set forward for countries to work towards. Broad themes include ending poverty, improving health and education, and tackling climate change.
Zero-Emissions Vehicle (ZEV): Vehicles that can operate without producing tailpipe emissions. In Canada this includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
A1.2 Abbreviations and acronyms
A1.2.1 Federal departments and agencies
AAFC: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
CIRNAC: Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
CMHC: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
CRA: Canada Revenue Agency
DFO: Fisheries and Oceans Canada
ECCC: Environment and Climate Change Canada
ESDC: Employment and Social Development Canada
FIN: Finance Canada
GAC: Global Affairs Canada
HC: Health Canada
INFC: Infrastructure Canada
ISC: Indigenous Services Canada
ISED: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
NRC: National Research Council
NRCan: Natural Resources Canada
NSERC: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
PC: Parks Canada
PSPC: Public Services and Procurement Canada
SSHRC: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
STC: Statistics Canada
TBS: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
TC: Transport Canada
A1.2.2 Canada, provinces and territories
AB: Alberta
BC: British Columbia
CA: Canada
MB: Manitoba
NB: New Brunswick
NL: Newfoundland and Labrador
NS: Nova Scotia
NT: Northwest Territories
NU: Nunavut
ON: Ontario
PE: Prince Edward Island
QC: Québec
SK: Saskatchewan
YT: Yukon
A1.2.3 Common acronyms
BCAs: border carbon adjustments
BMPs: beneficial management practices
BR: Biennial Report
BTR: Biennial Transparency Report
CCI: Canadian Climate Institute
CCME: Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
CCUS: carbon capture, utilization and storage
CESD: Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
CESI: Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators
CG: Canada Gazette
CIB: Canada Infrastructure Bank
CNZEAA: Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act
COP: Conference of the Parties
ERP: Emissions Reduction Plan
EV: electric vehicle
FPT: Federal-Provincial-Territorial
FSDS: Federal Sustainable Development Strategy
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GHG: greenhouse gas
HFC: hydrofluorocarbon
ICL: Indigenous Climate Leadership
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ITMOs: internationally transferred mitigation outcomes
LCEF: Low Carbon Economy Fund
LDV: light-duty vehicle
LULUCF: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry
MHDV: medium- and heavy-duty vehicles
MHZEV: medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle
MOU: memorandum of understanding
NC: National Communication
NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions
NIR: National Inventory Report
NZAB: Net-Zero Advisory Body
OBPS: Output-Based Pricing System
PCF: Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
PTs: provinces and territories
RD&D: research, development and demonstration
SDG: Sustainable Development Goal
SIF-NZA: Strategic Innovation Fund – Net Zero Accelerator
SFAC: Sustainable Finance Action Council
SMR: small modular reactor
UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme
UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
WAM: With Additional Measures
WM: With Measures
ZEV: zero-emission vehicle
A1.3 Sector definitions
When referring to “sectors” in this progress report, the reference is to Canadian economic sectors rather than IPCC sectors. For more on sectors, the difference between IPCC sectors and Canadian economic sectors, and how emissions are categorized into Canadian economic sectors, see Canada’s National Inventory Report.
A1.3.1 Economy-wide
Economy-wide is not a Canadian economic sector for emissions reporting purposes. Economy-wide measures are those that cut across sectors. Using economy-wide strategies to reduce emissions allows for maximum flexibility at the lowest overall cost. Some of the foundational components of Canada’s climate plan are economy-wide measures, such as putting a price on carbon pollution. Policies with long-term targets and price trajectories provide policy certainty, allowing Canadians and businesses to make informed investment decisions.
A1.3.2 Buildings
The buildings sector is comprised of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. The buildings sector includes stationary and process (i.e., air conditioning) emissions from residential and service industry buildings. Buildings sector measures aim to reduce emissions from space and water heating (the primary source of emissions from the sector), as well as from other sources including appliances, lighting, and auxiliary equipment. Energy efficiency measures are also important to reducing building sector emissions.
The emissions attributed to the buildings sector do not take into account embodied carbon—the energy and emissions from the manufacture, transport, and installation of construction materials, along with end-of-life. Embodied carbon, especially the emissions associated with the production of materials such as steel and concrete, which are accounted for in the heavy industry sector, is an example of the linkages between sectors.
A1.3.3 Electricity
The electricity sector is comprised of combustion and process emissions from utility electricity generation, steam production for sale, and transmission. Measures to reduce emissions from the electricity sector will also contribute to emissions reductions in other sectors, such as transportation, buildings, and heavy industry, as those sectors electrify.
A1.3.4 Heavy Industry
The heavy industry sector includes stationary combustion, onsite transportation, electricity and steam production, and process emissions from: metal and non-metal mines, stone quarries, and gravel pits; smelting and refining of non-ferrous metals like aluminum and magnesium; pulp and paper; iron and steel; cement and other non-metallic mineral production; lime and gypsum product manufacturing; and, chemical and fertilizer manufacturing.
Given the multiple linkages between this sector and others, economy-wide measures and measures in other sectors are important for how emissions can be reduced in the heavy industry sector.
A1.3.5 Oil and Gas
The oil and gas sector includes emissions from stationary combustion, onsite transportation, electricity and stream production, and fugitive and process emissions for both upstream and downstream operations. Upstream includes: natural gas production and processing; conventional oil production; oil sands mining, in-situ extraction, and upgrading; and, transport and storage of crude oil and natural gas. Downstream includes: petroleum refining industries; and, local distribution of natural gas up to and including the natural gas meter.
Oil and gas sector measures aim to reduce the emissions intensity of production and facilitate the transition to non-emitting products and services.
A1.3.6 Transportation
The transportation sector includes emissions from passenger transport, freight transport, and other (recreational, commercial, and residential). Passenger transport includes mobile-related combustion, process, and refrigerant emissions from cars, light trucks, motorcycles, buses, and the passenger component of rail and aviation. Freight transport includes mobile-related combustion, process, and refrigerant emissions from heavy-duty trucks, marine, and the freight components of rail and aviation. Combustion emissions from the non-industrial use of off-road engines (e.g., ATVs, snowmobiles, personal watercraft), including portable engines (e.g., generators, lawn mowers, chain saws), are included under the transportation sector as recreational, commercial, and residential.
Transportation sector measures aim to reduce emissions from passenger and freight transport through electrification and clean fuels, as well as enable active and public transportation.
A1.3.7 Agriculture
The agriculture sector includes emissions from: on-farm fuel use (stationary combustion, onsite transportation, and process emissions from the agricultural, hunting and trapping industry); crop production (application of biosolids and inorganic nitrogen fertilizers, decomposition of crop residues, loss of soil organic carbon, cultivation of organic soils, indirect emissions from leaching and volatilization, field burning of agricultural residues, liming, and urea application); and, animal production (animal housing, manure storage, manure deposited by grazing animals, and application of manure to managed soils).
The IPCC Agriculture sector does not reflect the full impact of agriculture on net Canadian GHG emissions or the sector’s important contribution to emissions removals. For emissions accounting purposes under the IPCC, the Agriculture sector includes non-energy GHG emissions related to the production of crops and livestock. Emissions from the production of machinery and fertilizer are accounted for under the Industrial Processes and Product Use sector and emissions from electricity use are reported in the Energy sector. For the purposes of analyzing economic trends and policies, it is useful to allocate emissions to the economic sector from which they originate. Therefore, the Canadian economic sector reporting adds emissions from the use of fuel in farm machinery and on-farm transportation to the agriculture sector. Emissions and sequestration from agricultural soils are reported under the LULUCF sector. When considering emissions from agriculture and opportunities for emissions reductions, it is therefore important to include not only those emissions related to production of crops and livestock including related fuel use, but also emissions from on-farm fuel use and emissions and removals from agricultural soils.
Agriculture sector measures aim to reduce emissions from biological sources (such as livestock production), fertilizer use, and on-farm fuel use. Agriculture sector measures may also seek to increase carbon sequestration, including through linkages to nature-based solutions.
A1.3.8 Waste
Emissions in the waste sector result from solid waste (municipal solid waste management sites (landfills), dedicated wood waste landfills, and other treatment of municipal solid waste), municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, and waste incineration (municipal solid, hazardous and clinical waste, and sewage sludge incineration). Waste sector measures aim to increase waste diversion and reduce emissions from waste management sites (in particular, methane from municipal landfills, the sector’s primary source of emissions).
Emissions from the waste sector are often grouped with “other” emissions (i.e., in a Waste and Others category), with the Others comprised of emissions from coal production and light manufacturing, construction and forest resources.
A1.3.9 Nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions is not a Canadian economic sector for emissions reporting purposes. Nature‑based solutions can help address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, while delivering multiple other benefits. Canada’s ecosystems, including oceans, agricultural lands, wetlands, settlements, and forests, act as both a source and a sink of GHG emissions. Nature-based solutions are actions that protect, sustainably manage, and restore ecosystems to contribute to climate change mitigation and deliver important co-benefits for society. Co-benefits can include helping to reduce the impacts of heat waves and floods, increasing nature-based recreation amenities, building or reinforcing community capacity for inclusive planning and enduring stewardship or guardianship, and supporting reconciliation and inherent and treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples. An important consideration with many nature-based solutions is that it can take years, if not decades, to realize the full mitigation results.
A1.3.10 Enabling measures
Enabling measures are an additional category of measures that are not expected to generate emissions reductions directly but will support emissions reductions in indirect ways; or are expected to generate emissions reductions, but those reductions are accounted for in one or more of the Canadian economic sectors. Enabling measures include: clean technology and climate innovation; sustainable finance; and, sustainable jobs, skills, and communities.
A1.3.11 Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry
The Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector is an IPCC sector that reports anthropogenic GHG fluxes between the atmosphere and Canada’s managed lands, including those associated with land-use change and emissions from Harvested Wood Products, which are closely linked to Forest Land. The LULUCF sector is made up of six land categories: forests, cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements, other land, as well as a seventh category for harvested wood products derived from those lands.