What's driving Alberta's emissions? Decomposing greenhouse gases emitted by Alberta's road transportation sector

Alberta emits more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than any other province in Canada, despite having only the 4th largest population. Alberta’s transportation sector produces 16% of these emissions, but has received little recent policy attention. I performed an index decomposition analysis of GHGs from Alberta’s road transportation sector from 1990-2010, in order to design policies that maximally reduce transportation emissions. After comparing Alberta’s results with those for B.C. and Quebec, I determined that policies should focus on three areas: reducing freight transportation volume, improving fuel efficiency of freight vehicles, and increasing use of low-emission fuels. I then suggested several policies to meet these objectives, and evaluated them for effectiveness, government affordability, and political acceptability. Finally, I recommended the simultaneous implementation of a new fuel tax and the mandatory use of speed limiters for heavy trucks as an effective set of short-term policies to reduce emissions.