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

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.