Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments

The report synthesizes existing data to quantify the widespread costs of pollution in Canada, which total tens of billions of dollars annually. It highlights that pollution increases expenses for medical care, food, and public services while noting that fragmented data often obscures these costs from the public and policymakers. Specific examples include $1.6 billion in costs from heat waves in 2015 and an average annual cost of $283 million for managing federal contaminated sites between 2005/06 and 2014/15.

• Pollution results in annual costs to Canadian families, businesses, and governments totaling at least tens of billions of dollars, affecting medical care, raw materials, food, and public services.
• Information regarding pollution costs is fragmented and incomplete, as most studies focus on specific pollutants rather than a comprehensive overview, leaving some pollutants with no available cost data.
• Specific financial impacts include an estimated $1.6 billion cost for climate change-related heat waves in 2015 and an average annual cost of $283 million for managing federal contaminated sites from 2005/06 to 2014/15.

APA

McDougal,, R. S. (2017). Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/costs-pollution-canada-measuring-impacts-families-businesses-and-governments

Chicago

McDougal,, Robert Smith,Kieran. Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/costs-pollution-canada-measuring-impacts-families-businesses-and-governments.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=McDougal, |first1=Robert Smith,Kieran |title=Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=1 June 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/costs-pollution-canada-measuring-impacts-families-businesses-and-governments |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mcdougal2017costs, author = {McDougal,, Robert Smith,Kieran}, title = {{Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/costs-pollution-canada-measuring-impacts-families-businesses-and-governments}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }