Alberta electricity emission factor 2024 (grid intensity, g CO2e per kWh)

The 2024 emission factor for Alberta electricity in Environment and Climate Change Canada's National Inventory Report is 335 g CO2e per kWh generated (0.335 kg CO2e per kWh), a preliminary figure. That is 20.4% lower than 2023 (420 g).

Updated 19 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures are from Table A7–10 of the National Inventory Report 2026, Annex 7 (Environment and Climate Change Canada), checked against the published workbook.

Work out your Alberta electricity emissions

KWh in a year

= 33.48 tonnes CO2e in 2024 (Scope 2 (location-based))34.61 tonnes including grid losses (ECCC consumption intensity)

Each kWh × 0.335 kg CO2e, ECCC's 2024 (preliminary) generation intensity for Alberta (National Inventory Report, Table A7–10).

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Alberta electricity emission factor by year

Year	Generation intensity (g CO2e per kWh)	kg CO2e per kWh	Change	Consumption intensity (g CO2e per kWh)
2024 (preliminary)	335	0.335	-20.4%	346
2023	420	0.420	-8.4%	434
2022	459	0.459	-9.4%	474
2021	506	0.506	-12.4%	522
2020	578	0.578	-8.1%	595
2019	629	0.629	-18.7% since 2015	647
2015	774	0.774	-11.0% since 2010	803
2010	870	0.870	-4.0% since 2005	910
2005	907	0.907	-4.3% since 1990	991
1990	948	0.948	–	1,031

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report 2026, Annex 7, Table A7–10 ("Electricity Generation and GHG Emission Details for Alberta"). Covers power plants whose main business is generating electricity (NAICS 22111); CO2, methane and nitrous oxide. "Not shown" means the table withholds the figure (not shown due to statistical limitations).Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report).

Generation intensity, consumption intensity and grid losses

ECCC publishes two figures. The generation intensity is greenhouse gas per kWh as electricity leaves the power plants and goes onto the grid; it leaves out grid losses. The consumption intensity is per kWh as it reaches the customer: ECCC takes the electricity lost in transmission, distribution and metering off the total generated, and adds the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) leaking from grid equipment. So the consumption figure is the higher of the two: in 2024, 346 g against 335 g for Alberta.

Neither figure counts emissions from flooding land for hydro dams, and carbon dioxide captured and stored has been taken out, as the table's notes say.

What Alberta's electricity is made from

In 2024 (preliminary), the power plants in the table generated 65,365 GWh in Alberta. The share from coal, gas and oil is what moves the factor from year to year.

Source	GWh, 2024	Share of generation
Natural gas	44,235	67.7%
Wind, solar and tidal	16,652	25.5%
Coal	1,947	3.0%
Hydro	1,719	2.6%
Oil, biomass and other fuels	526	0.8%

Generation by source from the same table (Table A7–10). Wind, solar and tidal is the table's "Other Renewables".

Worked example

Take an office or small warehouse in Alberta using 100,000 kWh a year. 100,000 kWh × 0.335 kg CO2e = 33.5 tonnes CO2e, reported as Scope 2 (location-based). With the consumption intensity instead, 100,000 kWh × 0.346 kg CO2e = 34.6 tonnes CO2e.

How to use it

Multiply each site's electricity use in kWh for the year by the figure for the same year, and report the result as location-based Scope 2 under the GHG Protocol. Alberta's figure is above the Canadian national average (102 g CO2e per kWh in 2024), so using the national figure for a site here would understate its emissions. If the site buys renewable electricity backed by certificates, you can also show a market-based figure, but keep the location-based one alongside it.

Common mistakes: reading grams as kilograms (divide g by 1,000 for kg); adding a separate grid-loss figure on top of the consumption intensity, which counts the losses twice; and treating a preliminary year as final. These are the figures ECCC uses for Canada's national greenhouse gas inventory. Some provinces publish their own figures for particular schemes (British Columbia does, for example), and where a provincial programme, lender or customer names a specific figure, use that one. Carbon Recycling is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Government of Canada.

UK companies with an office, warehouse or plant in Alberta should use this figure for that site and keep the UK government grid electricity factor for their UK sites. Businesses based in Canada can use it the same way for each province they operate in.

Where to find your kWh

Your electricity bills, or your utility's online account, show the kWh used in each billing period; add up the periods that fall in your reporting year. If the landlord pays the bill, ask them for the meter readings or the site's share of the building's use. Use each site's own province: a business with sites in several provinces needs a figure for each.

Related emission factors

British Columbia electricity: 16.7 g CO2e per kWh (2024 (preliminary))
Saskatchewan electricity: 542 g CO2e per kWh (2024 (preliminary))
Northwest Territories electricity: 460 g CO2e per kWh (2024 (preliminary))
Every Canadian province and territory
Canada national grid average
All emission factors

Frequently asked questions

What is Alberta's grid emission factor?

People also call it the grid intensity, carbon intensity or electricity emission factor. ECCC's National Inventory Report puts Alberta's generation intensity at 335 g CO2e per kWh in 2024 (preliminary), and its consumption intensity, which adds grid losses, at 346 g. The figures are in Table A7–10 of Annex 7.

Generation intensity or consumption intensity: which should I use?

For location-based Scope 2 under the GHG Protocol, the generation intensity is the closer match: emissions per kWh put onto the grid. Losses in transmission and distribution then belong in Scope 3, category 3, which is how the UK government factors split it too. Some customers and schemes ask for the consumption intensity instead, which builds the losses in. Use one or the other for a site, not both, and say which in your report.

Is the 2024 figure final?

No. ECCC marks 2024 as preliminary in the National Inventory Report 2026, and each year's report can revise earlier years when Statistics Canada revises its data. Use it for 2024 reporting and say it is preliminary; check the next report before you restate.

Why are some years missing?

The Annex 7 tables in the 2026 report show 1990, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. We show exactly those years and do not fill in the gaps. If your reporting year is not in the table, use the nearest earlier year shown and say so.

We are a UK company with a site in Alberta. Which factor do we use?

Use the Alberta figure for that site's electricity, not the UK grid factor and not the Canadian national average (102 g in 2024). The GHG Protocol asks for the grid where the electricity is used, and Canada's provinces range from almost all hydro to mostly fossil fuels.

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