Big and Little Feet Provincial Profiles: Prince Edward Island

Abstract

This communique provides a summary of the production- and consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounts for Prince Edward Island, as well as their associated trade flows. It is part of a series of communiques profiling the Canadian provinces and territories.1 In simplest terms, a production-based emissions account measures the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions produced in Prince Edward Island. In contrast, a consumptionbased emissions account measures the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions generated during the production process for final goods and services that are consumed in Prince Edward Island through household purchases, investment by firms and government spending. Trade flows refer to the movement of emissions that are produced in Prince Edward Island but which support consumption in a different province, territory or country (and vice versa). For example, emissions associated with the production of Prince Edward Island crops that are exported to Nova Scotia for processing and sale are recorded as a trade flow from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia. Moving in the opposite direction, emissions associated with the generation of electricity in New Brunswick that is exported to Prince Edward Island for sale to a Prince Edward Island homeowner are recorded as a trade flow from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. For further details on these results in a national context, the methodology for generating them and their policy implications, please see the companion papers to this communique series: (1) Fellows and Dobson (2017); and (2) Dobson and Fellows (2017). Additionally, the consumption emissions and trade flow data for each of the provinces and territories are available at: http://www.policyschool.ca/embodied-emissions-inputs-outputs-datatables-2004-2011/.