BC’s carbon footprint: exploring our top emission sources across urban and rural landscapes

To understand climate change, we need to understand where carbon comes from. Some carbon comes from natural sources: rotting plants, fires, and moose-burps. But most carbon comes from human activity. 

“We've thought of environmental problems and pollution as a big industry thing, where the pollution is coming from factories,” says Dr. Kathy Harrison, researching environmental, climate, and energy policy at the University of British Columbia.  

“But sources are often very small. They are individual home furnaces, individual motor vehicles, and gas stoves, as well as large industrial sources.” 

On average, people in BC produce less carbon than the rest of Canada. But, a lot of people live here, which means as a whole, BC produces more carbon than almost every other province, behind Ontario and Alberta.

So, what are some of our largest sources of carbon in BC? 

Transportation 

Our biggest source of carbon in British Columbia is from moving people and things around the province. 

Anything made in British Columbia needs to be transported to cities or ports. These distances are longer for things made in interior British Columbia than for things made in cities on the coast like Vancouver. We used to move more things by plane, but now we use more trucks and cars. Public transit is an option in cities but not the countryside.  

Cars are getting more fuel efficient all the time, especially with hybrid and electric vehicles. But Canadians are choosing less efficient cars. “Canadians drive the least fuel-efficient passenger vehicles in the world,” says Dr. Harrison.  

The government is trying to fix this by encouraging people to use more efficient vehicles. Some cities are also improving bicycling paths and buses. You can make a difference by trying to walk, bike, or catch the bus instead of driving.  

Oil, Gas, and Mining 

Drilling technology for getting oil and natural gas out of the ground keeps getting more efficient, as is the technology for refining oil and gas into fuel. However, oil and gas production is a significant source of carbon emissions in British Columbia. 

British Columbia also digs a lot of coal out of the ground to sell to other places.  “We don't burn our own coal, but we ship out a lot of it,” says Harrison.  

Oil and gas mining happens mostly in northeastern British Columbia. This is the same type of rock that might be very good for artificially storing carbon in the ground. Light oil from western Canada is mostly refined near Prince George. Heavy crude oil from the Trans Mountain pipeline is refined near Burnaby. 

In the future, British Columbia plans to produce even more carbon emissions by increasing Liquid Natural Gas refining and transportation. 

Industry and Manufacturing 

Making things like paper and concrete produces a lot of carbon emissions. Manufacturing technology is constantly improving to produce less carbon, but we are also making more things. A single business creates less carbon, but we have more business. When all those new businesses add up, we're producing more total carbon. 

The types of things that are made change in different places. Near Vancouver, most carbon is from making paper. In Prince George and Burnaby, carbon is produced by refining oil. Away from cities, carbon is produced by farming or by cutting down trees. 

During the COVID19 pandemic lockdowns, British Columbia produced fewer things. This resulted in fewer carbon emissions until production recovered as pandemic restrictions were lifted. Improved processes for heavy industry and light manufacturing are one of the places where British Columbia is most successful in reducing carbon emissions each year. 

You can help reduce carbon emissions from industry and manufacturing by buying fewer things. Try to reduce your consumption! If you need something, try to repurpose what you already have. If you can’t, try reusing items other people are done using by borrowing or shopping second-hand items. 

Buildings 

Individual buildings produce carbon emissions through heating and cooling. Stricter building codes, better insulation, and more efficient heating and cooling systems have reduced carbon emissions. 

Oceans stabilize temperature so weather doesn’t get as hot or as cold near the coast. That means people who live inland need to spend more energy on heating and cooling their homes than people who live near the coast. 

People in remote areas often use diesel to heat their buildings. This produces more carbon than the electric heating and cooling in cities. However, cities have more buildings. This means that rural areas produce more carbon per building, but cities produce more carbon overall. 

You can reduce your building’s carbon emissions by improving insulation to keep the temperature stable. BC Hydro offers a free home energy kit with supplies and tips to improve insulation!  

Agriculture and Forestry 

British Columbia has a lot of forests. Trees trap carbon but release it when they die. In the past, forests trapped more carbon than they produced. Now, forests produce more carbon than they trap as trees are harvested, die from pine beetle infestations, or burn in fires.  

BC's government has recently announced new measures to protect more old-growth forests by co-developing local plans with local First Nations. With the participation of 50 First Nations, Forest Landscape Planning incorporates local knowledge and community priorities. It prevents harvesting in old-growth forests that are important for ecosystem health, biodiversity, clean water, carbon storage and Indigenous values. 

Carbon emissions from agriculture include farming and livestock. In the Prairies, farmers are learning more sustainable techniques for preparing land for planting, selecting what to plant, using fertilizer, harvesting, and transporting crops for sale. These same techniques can also be used in British Columbia to reduce carbon emissions. 

Livestock burps and farts produce mostly methane, another greenhouse gas. Emissions from livestock might be reduced by better manure management, but the most straightforward technique is to raise fewer animals. 

Understanding the sources of carbon emissions is crucial to tackling climate change in BC. The changes we need to make to reach net zero by 2050 are big and small. And we need to start now to ensure a sustainable future for our planet.

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