Regional and sectoral level convergence of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada

We investigate the convergence of per capita greenhouse gas emissions across Canadian provinces and territories at the aggregate and sectoral levels over the period 1990–2014. The study is carried out by means of the novel regression-based technique that tests for convergence and club convergence proposed by Phillips and Sul [2007. “Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests.” Econometrica 75 (6): 1771–1855, 2009. “Economic Transition and Growth.” Journal of Applied Econometrics 24 (7): 1153–1185], which accounts for the heterogeneity of provinces. We observe that Canadian provinces and territories are characterized by various convergence clubs at the aggregate and sectoral levels. The existence of multiple steady state equilibria suggests that Canadian policy could be distinctly tailored to provinces and territories in a way that equitably distributes the burden of greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts to achieve national emissions reduction targets.