An overview of Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory program as a pollution control policy tool

Stuart Johnston Edwards, Tony R. Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Formed under ‘right-to-know’ legislation and public disclosure principles, Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) are a key policy tool for pollution control. PRTRs affect both social and environmental policy outcomes by making facility pollutant release quantities available to stakeholders. While PRTRs operate under similar principles, they are designed to reflect national priorities. This study investigates and critically discusses the stated policy goals of Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) to other PRTRs. Notably, there are issues involving data completeness and accuracy, creating gaps in inventory emissions, thereby not reflecting actual emissions. While relative pollutant release levels have decreased, overall toxicity has increased. Coupled with the omission of toxicity factors and pollutant thresholds from the NPRI, this creates a false sense of progress for stakeholders. Making pollutant release data more comprehensive would improve stakeholder engagement and better inform the decision-making process which can be applied to policies across geopolitical scales.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1097-1113
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Environmental Planning and Management
Volume63
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 11 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Newcastle University.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Water Science and Technology
  • General Environmental Science
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An overview of Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory program as a pollution control policy tool'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this