The Environmental Impact of Canadian Immigration: A Hidden Contributor to Climate Change

Introduction

This analysis challenges the widely accepted notion that high immigration rates into countries like Canada contribute to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation. While economic and demographic arguments are often made to justify immigration…

— including the proposed idea that a larger workforce is beneficial —

…modern economies no longer rely on 1940s era manual factory labour or ancient individual, small-scale independent farms to drive growth. Instead, technological advancements such as mass agriculture (where one farmer can replace the work of hundreds), automation, robots, 3D printing factories, and energy and resource exports have become key drivers of real GDP growth (not more people).

These developments have reduced the dependence on human labour for production. However, the environmental impact of bringing individuals from very often self-sufficient or self-sustaining or non-debt based existence or simply lower-consumption lifestyles in regions such as Eastern Europe, the Global South (including Africa, India, the Middle East, and China), into high-consumption economies like Canada may significantly accelerates climate change, as they adopt carbon-intensive lifestyles built on debt capital financing from the supposed growth that millenials and Gen Z will bring society one day in the distant future.

Canada’s immigration policy, rather than reducing carbon footprints, may have caused a dramatic increase in carbon emissions.

This report presents an analysis of the carbon output of immigrants who transition from low-consumption, sustainable lifestyles to high-consumption, carbon-intensive Canadian city living. Using publicly available immigration data from 2015 to 2023, the carbon impact is quantified, and the potential environmental consequences are highlighted.

Carbon Output per Person: Regional Comparisons

To understand the difference in carbon emissions between Canada and the immigrants’ countries of origin, we first define the average annual carbon output per person in each region:

Eastern Europe: Low estimate: 5 tons of CO2 per person per year High estimate: 8 tons of CO2 per person per year
Global South (Africa, India, Middle East, China): Low estimate: 2 tons of CO2 per person per year High estimate: 7 tons of CO2 per person per year
Canada: Low estimate: 15 tons of CO2 per person per year High estimate: 20 tons of CO2 per person per year

Note: This data provides an estimate of the average annual carbon emissions per person in different regions of the world. These estimates are generalized figures based on regional energy consumption, transportation use, and overall lifestyle factors. For example, individuals living in Eastern Europe or the Global South (including Africa, India, the Middle East, and China) tend to have significantly lower carbon footprints due to lower energy consumption, reliance on public transportation, and smaller homes. These numbers serve as a baseline to understand how much carbon is typically emitted by a person in their home region before they immigrate to a higher-consumption country like Canada.

Immigration Data (2015-2023)

Between 2015 and 2023, Canada accepted 3,016,699 immigrants in total. For the purposes of this analysis, we assume that 30% of these immigrants came from Eastern Europe, and 70% came from the Global South.

Immigrants Total: 3,016,699

Carbon Output Calculations

A. Carbon Output if Immigrants Stayed in Their Original Regions

Eastern Europe:

Low Estimate (5 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 4,525,048.5 tons of CO2
High Estimate (8 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 7,240,077.6 tons of CO2

Global South:

Low Estimate (2 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 4,223,378.6 tons of CO2
High Estimate (7 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 14,781,825.1 tons of CO2

B. Carbon Output if Immigrants Adopted Canadian Lifestyles

Low Estimate (15 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 45,250,485 tons of CO2
High Estimate (20 tons CO2 per person per year): Total Carbon Output: 60,333,980 tons of CO2

Environmental Impact of Immigration: CO2 Savings Analysis

By comparing the carbon output in the immigrants’ home regions versus the carbon output when they adopt Canadian lifestyles, we can estimate the environmental cost of immigration in terms of increased carbon emissions.

Eastern Europe:

Low Estimate: Carbon saved if immigrants stayed in Eastern Europe: 45,250,485 tons (Canada) − 4,525,048.5 tons (Eastern Europe low) = 40,725,436.5 tons of CO2 saved
High Estimate: Carbon saved if immigrants stayed in Eastern Europe: 60,333,980 tons (Canada) − 7,240,077.6 tons (Eastern Europe high) = 53,093,902.4 tons of CO2 saved

Global South:

Low Estimate: Carbon saved if immigrants stayed in the Global South: 45,250,485 tons (Canada) − 4,223,378.6 tons (Global South low) = 41,027,106.4 tons of CO2 saved
High Estimate: Carbon saved if immigrants stayed in the Global South: 60,333,980 tons (Canada) − 14,781,825.1 tons (Global South high) = 45,552,154.9 tons of CO2 saved

Conclusions

Environmental Cost of Immigration: Immigration from Eastern Europe and the Global South to Canada significantly increases carbon emissions. If the 3,016,699 immigrants had remained in their home countries between 2015 and 2023, Canada could have saved between 40.7 million and 53.1 million tons of CO2 for Eastern European immigrants and between 41.0 million and 45.5 million tons of CO2 for immigrants from the Global South.
Lifestyles and Carbon Emissions: Immigrants coming from lower-emission lifestyles in their home countries adopt higher-consumption Canadian lifestyles, dramatically increasing their carbon footprints. Canada’s car dependency, large homes, and high energy consumption contribute to this spike in carbon output.
Policy Implications: Canada’s immigration policy, as it currently stands, accelerates climate change by increasing the carbon footprints of immigrants who transition to a Canadian lifestyle. Canadian immigration policy also imposes a substantial environmental cost. These findings suggest that future immigration policies should incorporate sustainability considerations to mitigate the negative environmental impacts associated with immigration.

The underlying thesis of this report is that immigration’s environmental impact cannot be ignored. Canada’s immigration policy, when not balanced with sustainability goals, could lead to an acceleration of climate change. A shift in policy that includes strategies for greener lifestyles and infrastructure improvements may help reduce the environmental impact of immigration.

Final & Related Considerations

Immigrants, who may have previously lived on modest incomes, minimal consumption, and cash-based, low-carbon economies, are suddenly thrust into a system that demands significantly higher wages (often $50,000 to $100,000 per year), mortgages debt of $1 to $2 million, and a lifetime of dependency on corporate financing system and government financing systems. This shift leads to increased resource consumption, infrastructure expansion, and financial strain on heavily indebted modern economies…

— ultimately driving up carbon emissions and requiring the creation of vast production systems to support this new lifestyle. The immigration system thus fuels a cycle of higher environmental degradation, resource scarcity, national debt growth, undermining the very sustainability that many policymakers claim to support.

Additionally, the narrative that immigration contributes to a green economy appears false when examining the lifestyle changes and carbon output increases associated with Canada’s consumption-driven economic model. The environmental impact should be reexamined, especially when considering the dramatic rise in emissions when immigrants adopt a Canadian lifestyle.

If Canada’s environmental policy genuinely seeks to address climate change, it must integrate immigration with more sustainable urban planning (perhaps low density, decentralized cities vs centralized mega-city sums, green city design with greenhouses, green urban planning instead of ultra dense smart cities, self sufficiency homes with private solar), resource efficiency, and green infrastructure. Otherwise, the current trajectory suggests that immigration, in its present form, contributes to environmental harm and contradicts the stated policy goals of resource sustainability, environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

Note: ‘Here are some recommended books and sources that can provide a basis for further research, ensuring that our claims can be verified and aligned with factual book data.’

Books for Reference:

“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert – This Pulitzer Prize-winning book discusses human-driven climate change, environmental impact, and how lifestyles in developed countries contribute to emissions, providing context for how increased consumption affects the environment.
“Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet” by Bill McKibben – This book outlines how high-consumption lifestyles in developed nations significantly contribute to global warming. It can offer insights into the environmental impact of transitions to high-consumption economies, such as when immigrants adopt more carbon-intensive lifestyles.
“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond – This work addresses how societies have historically failed due to environmental mismanagement. It discusses the impact of consumption patterns and can help validate the argument that higher consumption rates accelerate environmental degradation.
“The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming” by David Wallace-Wells – This book provides a detailed examination of the extreme environmental consequences of our current consumption patterns, offering relevant information about the impact of industrialized, high-consumption lifestyles on climate change.

Research and Studies:

“Immigration, Population Growth, and Environmental Sustainability” (Research by the Centre for Immigration Studies) – This research explores the relationship between immigration and environmental sustainability in developed nations, with a focus on how immigration can increase resource consumption and emissions. It offers concrete data and perspectives that reinforce our argument.
“Global Warming of 1.5°C” (IPCC Special Report) – This comprehensive report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) discusses how different regions contribute to global emissions and the impact of transitioning to more carbon-intensive lifestyles, which aligns with our thesis about immigration and increased carbon footprints.
“Environmental Impacts of Population Growth: The Role of Immigration in Canada” (Journal of Population and Sustainability) – This paper directly addresses the environmental implications of population growth due to immigration in Canada, focusing on carbon emissions and resource consumption. It offers empirical data to support our conclusions.
Statistics Canada Reports on Immigration and Emissions – Government data from Statistics Canada can validate immigration trends from 2015 to 2023, helping to ensure accuracy in the numerical data related to immigration. This can be cross-referenced with regional and national CO2 emissions reports to ensure consistency with the argument of increased carbon output.

Referencing these books and studies, we can verify that the report is backed by established research and credible sources. These references allow anyone to verify the data and better understand the environmental impact of Canadian immigration policies.

Introduction

Carbon Output per Person: Regional Comparisons

Immigration Data (2015-2023)

Carbon Output Calculations

A. Carbon Output if Immigrants Stayed in Their Original Regions

Eastern Europe:

Global South:

B. Carbon Output if Immigrants Adopted Canadian Lifestyles

Environmental Impact of Immigration: CO2 Savings Analysis

Eastern Europe:

Global South:

Conclusions

Final & Related Considerations

Books for Reference:

Research and Studies:

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