COSTS OF POLLUTION IN CANADA

The report finds that pollution imposes very significant costs on Canadian families, businesses, and governments, with direct welfare costs alone estimated at $39 billion in 2015. It highlights substantial data gaps regarding persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and climate change, while detailing specific impacts such as urban smog, algal blooms in Lake Erie, and the long-term liabilities of contaminated sites and nuclear legacy wastes.

• The direct welfare costs of pollution in Canada were estimated at $39 billion in 2015, which equates to at least $4,300 for a family of four, or approximately 3 per cent of household income.
• The largest known direct welfare cost is attributed to criteria air pollutants, specifically fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone, with an estimated cost of $36 billion in 2015 (range: $26 billion to $47.5 billion).
• Measurable income costs of pollution amounted to $3.3 billion in 2015, though full income costs are likely in the tens of billions of dollars, potentially reaching 3 per cent of the combined net income of households, businesses, and governments.
• Health care-related costs due to PM2.5 and ground-level ozone were estimated at at least $2 billion in 2015, while lost labour output for the same pollutants was at least $800 million.
• Algal blooms in Lake Erie caused significant wealth losses, reducing the lake's value as an ecosystem asset by $3.8 billion and as a market asset by $4 billion, while reducing residential property values along the shoreline by $712 million.
• The federal government recognized $5.8 billion in liabilities for contaminated site cleanup in 2015, with provincial governments recognizing an additional $6.4 billion.
• Average annual expenditures on federal contaminated sites were $283 million between 2005/06 and 2014/15, with costs expected to rise as sites move into the remediation stage.
• Atomic Energy of Canada Limited planned average annual spending of $121 million until the year 2164 for the management of low-level nuclear legacy wastes.
• The direct welfare cost of premature deaths from climate change-related heat waves was estimated at $1.6 billion in 2015.
• Ground-level ozone caused an estimated $96 million in losses due to reduced agricultural yields in 2015.
• The cost of reduced visibility in Canada due to particulate matter and ground-level ozone was estimated at $438 million in 2015.
• The report identifies critical data gaps for several pollutants, noting that the costs of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) possibly run into tens of billions of dollars in Canada.
• Road salt use in Canada is estimated to cause significant infrastructure damage; an upper estimate for increased road maintenance costs in 2015 was $11 billion, though the reliability of this figure is considered very low.
• The value of Canada's fossil fuel assets dropped by 95 per cent from a peak of $1.1 trillion in 2008 to $56 billion in 2015, a loss of wealth that could be permanent if oil prices do not recover due to the global shift toward renewables.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2017). COSTS OF POLLUTION IN CANADA. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/costs-of-pollution-in-canada.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. COSTS OF POLLUTION IN CANADA. 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/costs-of-pollution-in-canada.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=COSTS OF POLLUTION IN CANADA |date=June 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/costs-of-pollution-in-canada.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2017costs, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{COSTS OF POLLUTION IN CANADA}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/costs-of-pollution-in-canada.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }