L’analyse de l’empreinte écologique des 15 régions métropolitaines canadiennes selon les catégories de consommation des ménages

Abstract

The ecological footprint is considered an environmental assessment method, measuring the pressure that humanity exerts on the planet to meet its needs. This project analyzes the ecological footprint of direct, indirect and total household expenditures in the fifteen Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMAs) by household consumption categories. The objective of the project is to assess the direct and indirect footprint by consumption category of food, housing, transportation, goods, and services for the fifteen Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) in each province and by land use type (cropland, pasture, forest land, fisheries, built-up land and CO2 land). The method used to conduct this study is the bottom-up approach where household expenditures from 2014 (base year) were used and adjusted to the scale of the CMAs studied. Then, the ecological footprint of the CMAs was calculated using Canada's Land Use and Consumption Matrix (CLUM) and greenhouse gas emissions data to calculate the carbon footprint associated with electricity consumption. The results show a difference between the direct and indirect footprint by consumption category. For the direct footprint, transportation and housing remain the highest, while for the indirect footprint, services remain the highest. For the footprint by land type, the carbon component also contributes to the CMAs' ecological footprint. The analysis of the footprint of the consumption categories by land type used is very variable. For the majority, the carbon component is the most dominant. For the other land types, we find cultivated fields for the food and services categories, and forested areas for the housing and goods categories. The carbon footprint associated with housing electricity consumption varies considerably depending on the source of electricity generation. CMAs that use renewable energy sources have a much lower carbon footprint (Quebec City, Victoria, Vancouver and Montreal) than other components that use fossil fuels (Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton). Mitigation measures to reduce the footprint by consumption category are needed such as using renewable energy and promoting energy efficiency as well as reviewing the mobility of people, buying locally for food and goods.

Date	15 Apr 2023
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon (Supervisor)