Notice of release
Québec, December 13, 2022. – The Institut de la statistique du Québec is publishing an update on the carbon footprint of Québec households for 2018. This footprint totalled at least 70,420 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent (kt of CO2 eq.), which is equivalent to 8.4 tons per capita. This represents a 6% increase from the revised carbon footprint for 2017 (64,474 kt of CO2 eq. or 8.0 tons per capita), which was also published today.
The carbon footprint of households corresponds to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced to meet the consumption needs of households, whether generated by the households themselves or by the industrial sectors that supply them with the goods and services requested.
The carbon footprint measures emissions generated by household consumption in Québec (40,618 kt of CO2 eq. in 2018), elsewhere in Canada (11,903 kt of CO2 eq.) and elsewhere on the planet (17,899 kt of CO2).
In addition to the data on GHGs emitted directly by households, the 2018 update provides data on:
- Emissions according to different categories of goods and services consumed by households.
- Emissions from the manufacturing, transportation and distribution of finished and intermediate products used to meet household consumption needs (indirect emissions).
- Carbon footprint by location of GHG emissions (in Québec, in other Canadian provinces and territories) and CO2 emissions generated outside Canada.
- Carbon footprint per dollar spent.
Methodology and data source
This estimated carbon footprint of Québec households is based on data from the GHG emissions account (summer 2022 edition) and an OECD database on the CO2 content of international trade (2021 edition). It also uses results from the Modèle intersectoriel du Québec. This model is based on Statistics Canada’s Supply and Use Tables. A “Canada outside Québec” version of this model was developed for the purposes of the analysis.
The methodology used is described in the appendix of the publication released in April 2022 (PDF, 3.06 MB).
Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec, compilation based on the Québec and Canadian GHG emissions account as of the summer 2022, and the 2021 edition of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in International Trade (OECD).
Cautionary note
GHG emissions were revised downward by Statistics Canada, and as a result, the data on the carbon footprint of households for 2017 released by the Institut de la statistique du Québec in April 2022 have been revised. Before the revision, the total carbon footprint of households was 71,997 kt of CO2 eq., or 8.7 tons per capita. After the revision, the total carbon footprint of households is 66,474 kt of CO2 eq., or 8.0 tons per capita.
For more information
- View some of the data (interactive figures)
- View the data tables