Big and Little Feet Provincial Profiles: Quebec

Abstract

This communiqué provides a summary of the production- and consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounts for Quebec, 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 Quebec. 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 Quebec through household purchases, investment by firms and government spending. Trade flows refer to the movement of emissions that are produced in Quebec but which support consumption in a different province, territory or country (and vice versa). For example, emissions associated with the production of a Quebec manufactured good that is exported to Ontario for sale are recorded as a trade flow from Quebec to Ontario. Moving in the opposite direction, emissions associated with the production of motor gasoline in New Brunswick that is exported to Quebec for sale are recorded as a trade flow from New Brunswick to Quebec. 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/.