Research
Biofuels in Canada 2020: Tracking biofuel consumption, feedstocks, avoided greenhouse gas emissions and fuel cost impacts
October, 2020
Summary
Navius Research has released the 2020 edition of the “Biofuels in Canada” report. This report uses public data to catalog the volume of transportation biofuels consumed in each Canadian province while estimating the impact of biofuel consumption on greenhouse gas emissions and transportation energy costs.
Highlights:
- Ethanol consumption has increased from roughly 1,700 million liters in 2010 to 3,034 million liters in 2018 (0.5% less than in 2017), accounting for 6.5% of the volume of blended gasoline fuel.
- Renewable fuel consumption in the diesel pool was 711 million liters in 2018 (1.5% larger than in 2017), accounting for 2.5% of the volume of blended diesel fuel.
- Annual avoided lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions resulting from biofuel consumption were 5.6 Mt/yr in 2018 (1% larger than in 2017). Average abatement costs from the consumers’ perspective is -322 $/tCO2e in the ethanol pool and 149 $/tCO2e in the diesel pool.
- On net, we estimate that biofuel consumption reduced fuel expenditures in Canada by 0.8% from 2010 through 2018, relative to a counterfactual scenario without biofuel consumption.
- Because of differences in fuel energy density and fuel costs, consumers in Canada have paid more taxes as a result of biofuel blending and consumption, relative to a counterfactual scenario without biofuel consumption. These “surtaxes” have grown to a cumulative total of $1.6 billion from 2010 through to the end of 2018.
Download the report or the spreadsheet model.
This study was commissioned and funded by Advanced Biofuels Canada.
To learn more about this research, please contact Michael Wolinetz.
Other Research
2023
2022
Damage Control: Reducing the costs of climate impacts in Canada
Animal-sourced food consumption and Canada’s emissions targets
Simulating Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan
Potential of small modular reactors in hard-to-decarbonize industries
Hitting Canada’s climate targets with biogas & RNG
Under Water: The costs of climate change for Canada’s infrastructure
2021
Informing a strategy for reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia
The role of carbon capture and storage in Canada’s net zero future
Canada’s clean energy economy to 2030
Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations explanation and insights
Towards Canada’s fair share: New modeling and analysis on achieving a stronger climate target
Assessing the impacts of the Conservative Plan to Combat Climate Change
2020
2019
Meeting Canada’s climate mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement
Quantifying Canada’s clean energy economy
California and Québec’s ZEV mandates description
Reversing carbon leakage in the Canadian aluminum sector
Supporting the development of CleanBC
Saskatchewan’s carbon tax numbers are in and the answer is … reporting errors
Older
Review of British Columbia’s RLCFRR energy effectiveness ratios
Refining margins and fuel policy in British Columbia
Analysis of the proposed Canadian Clean Fuel Standard
Electrification best practices in Canada
A review of ECCC’s method for estimating upstream GHGs
Refining margins in British Columbia
Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the Energy East pipeline project
The Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirement Regulation
How do industrial GHG reduction efforts affect demand for skilled labour?
Is British Columbia’s carbon tax good for household income?
How resilient are the Canadian oil sands to carbon constraints?