Alberta Agriculture Carbon Dashboard

Simpson Centre New Growth:

Reviews of Current Ag Policy Research and Articles

Source: Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy

Summary: A new website was recently launched by the Simpson Centre, produced through the two-year Carbon Program, a major program of study focused on agriculture-based greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of developing policies to reduce them. As part of the Carbon Program, the Dashboard is an interactive tool that enables students, policy makers, academics, industry and the general public to more easily access the data and measurement behind Alberta’s, and Canada’s, greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.  What does this mean for agriculture policy in Canada? We need to measure emissions before we can change them!

Article:

The general public knows that the Canadian government has committed to substantial reductions in GHG emissions over the next thirty years. The agriculture industry did not see any specific goals until December 2020, when the Federal government introduced A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan (SCP – see reference below). The SCP proposed introducing a national emissions reduction target for emissions originating from fertilizers, with a target of 30 per cent reduction from 2020 levels, within the assumed timeline of 2030 as target date. With this and other more concrete targets, Canada’s agriculture industry is actively getting on board the national (electric) train to help with GHG emissions reduction.

The Simpson Centre’s Carbon Program is a two year program that will develop policy recommendations for the agriculture sector designed to reduce emissions. As the first steps into this program were taken in 2021, it became apparent that the methods of measurement and the estimates themselves, of agriculture-based greenhouse gases were not well-known, easy to access, or commonly shared. The Alberta Agriculture Carbon Dashboard was designed to remedy these issues and answer some key questions in a user-friendly way. In addition the Dashboard is “fully loaded” with the ability to download data, but also to go to the source of that data as a firm reference.

Just what questions can you answer from using the Dashboard?

• What portion of Alberta’s (or Canada’s or another province’s) total GHG emissions is from agricultural activities?
• How have these emissions changed over time?
• What are our GHG emissions per kg of beef or canola?
• How do our emissions compare with other global producers?
• And of course: Just what does UNFCCC stand for?

This Dashboard offers both a user-friendly accessible portal to introduce readers to understanding agriculture-sourced GHG emissions, and also a launching point with links to hard data and in-depth research for a deeper dive into this topic.

To test-drive the dashboard, follow this link: https://simpsoncentre-dashboard.ca/carbon/

References:

Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy. 2022. “Alberta Agriculture Carbon Dashboard.” The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. Calgary, AB. X

Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2021. “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy.” Gatineau. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/climate-plan-overview/healthy-environment-healthy-economy.html