Big and Little Feet Provincial Profiles: Newfoundland and Labrador

Abstract

This communiqué provides a summary of the production- and consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounts for Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as their associated trade flows. It is part of a series of communiqués profiling the Canadian provinces and territories.1 In simplest terms, a production-based emissions account measures the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions produced in Newfoundland and Labrador. In contrast, a consumption-based emissions account measures the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions generated during the production process for final goods and services that are consumed in Newfoundland and Labrador through household purchases, investment by firms and government spending. Trade flows refer to the movement of emissions that are produced in Newfoundland and Labrador but which support consumption in a different province, territory or country (and vice versa). For example, emissions associated with the production of Newfoundland and Labrador crude oil that is exported to New Brunswick for refining and sale as motor gasoline are recorded as a trade flow from Newfoundland and Labrador to New Brunswick. Moving in the opposite direction, emissions associated with the production of a Quebec manufactured good that is exported to Newfoundland and Labrador for sale are recorded as a trade flow from Quebec to Newfoundland and Labrador. For further details on these results in a national context, the methodology for generating them and their policy implications, please see the companion papers to this communiqué series: (1) Fellows and Dobson (2017); and (2) Dobson and Fellows (2017). Additionally, the consumption emissions and trade flow data for each of the provinces and territories are available at: http://www.policyschool.ca/embodied-emissions-inputs-outputs-datatables-2004-2011/.