Oil and gas emissions fell 0.2% in 2025 despite record Canadian crude output
A new report finds Canada's oilsands emissions rose while conventional oil and gas emissions fell, offsetting the increase even as national emissions overall ticked up.
Why it matters
Alberta's oilsands and conventional oil and gas production are central to the national emissions picture examined in this report.
The Canadian Climate Institute's annual national emissions report, released Thursday, found Canada's oil and gas sector produced slightly lower emissions in 2025 even as Statistics Canada reported record crude production, up about four per cent from 2024. Oilsands emissions rose by 844,000 tonnes year over year, but a 1.3-million-tonne drop in emissions from conventional oil and gas extraction and downstream activities offset that increase, leaving sector emissions down 0.2 per cent overall.
Senior fellow Seton Stiebert said much of the progress came from reduced fugitive methane emissions and improved efficiency, meaning producers are using less energy per unit of oil and gas extracted, stored and shipped.
Despite the sector's improvement, Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions rose about one per cent in 2025 to 691 million tonnes, driven mainly by buildings and electricity generation. The institute's acting director, Ross Fraser-Minten, attributed the building-sector increase to a colder winter and heavier reliance on fossil fuels for heating, while electricity emissions rose due to greater use of natural gas. Canada's emissions remain only 9.5 to 10.3 per cent below 2005 levels, well short of the Paris target of 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, prompting Fraser-Minten to warn the country could be up to 20 years behind its own goal.
Compiled by the Alberta Daily Desk — an AI-written summary of reporting from the credited sources below, produced and reviewed under our editorial policy.