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Measured Canadian oil sands CO2 emissions are higher than estimates made using internationally recommended methods

Author

Listed:
  • John Liggio

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Shao-Meng Li

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Ralf M. Staebler

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Katherine Hayden

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Andrea Darlington

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Richard L. Mittermeier

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Jason O’Brien

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Robert McLaren

    (York University)

  • Mengistu Wolde

    (National Research Council Canada)

  • Doug Worthy

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

  • Felix Vogel

    (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

Abstract

The oil and gas (O&G) sector represents a large source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. However, estimates of O&G emissions rely upon bottom-up approaches, and are rarely evaluated through atmospheric measurements. Here, we use aircraft measurements over the Canadian oil sands (OS) to derive the first top-down, measurement-based determination of the their annual CO2 emissions and intensities. The results indicate that CO2 emission intensities for OS facilities are 13–123% larger than those estimated using publically available data. This leads to 64% higher annual GHG emissions from surface mining operations, and 30% higher overall OS GHG emissions (17 Mt) compared to that reported by industry, despite emissions reporting which uses the most up to date and recommended bottom-up approaches. Given the similarity in bottom-up reporting methods across the entire O&G sector, these results suggest that O&G CO2 emissions inventory data may be more uncertain than previously considered.

Suggested Citation

  • John Liggio & Shao-Meng Li & Ralf M. Staebler & Katherine Hayden & Andrea Darlington & Richard L. Mittermeier & Jason O’Brien & Robert McLaren & Mengistu Wolde & Doug Worthy & Felix Vogel, 2019. "Measured Canadian oil sands CO2 emissions are higher than estimates made using internationally recommended methods," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09714-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09714-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Rui Xing & Diego V. Chiappori & Evan J. Arbuckle & Matthew T. Binsted & Evan G. R. Davies, 2021. "Canadian Oil Sands Extraction and Upgrading: A Synthesis of the Data on Energy Consumption, CO 2 Emissions, and Supply Costs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Long Fu & Allan H. Legge, 2023. "Uncertainty and bias in Liggio et al. (2019) on CO2 emissions from oil sands operations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-3, December.
    3. Si, Minxing & Bai, Ling & Du, Ke, 2021. "Fuel consumption analysis and cap and trade system evaluation for Canadian in situ oil sands extraction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

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