Canadian oil sand extraction: Exploring the nexus between economic development and environmental sustainability

This paper investigates the nexus between environmental sustainability and economic development in Alberta's oil sands industry, focusing specifically on air quality. Alberta hosts the world's third-largest oil reserve after Saudi-Arabia and Venezuela. The government is moving ahead with extracting large quantities of unconventional oil from bituminous sands, processes which produce significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) (i.e., CO2, CH4, N2O and HFC). We assemble a dataset using available statistical compilations of GHGs in Alberta. We undertake preliminary data analysis with the aim of formulating an Environmental Kuznets Curve. Finally, we propose an original indicator set that frames the relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GHGs, which we name the Sustainable Income Index.