Toronto, Ontario — May 29, 2019 — A new study provides fact-based arsenal that collision repairers can use in conversations with ecologically intense relations. The auto sector releases less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the pharmaceutical sector.
According to Lotfi Belkhir, Associate Professor & Chair of Eco-Entrepreneurship of McMaster University, the effects the the pharmaceutical industry has on the environment has been overlooked, despite the fact that it eclipses the environmental impact of the auto sector.
“By our calculations, the pharma market is 28 percent smaller, yet 13 percent more polluting than the automotive sector,” Belkhir wrote to The Conversation. “The pharmaceutical sector is far from green.”
While the study, which looks at North American emissions, does not factor in the amount of carbon dioxide released by vehicles, passenger vehicles are only responsible for releasing about eight percent of the world’s carbon dioxide—about a quarter of the amount produced by the agriculture sector.
According to Belkhir’s paper, the pharmaceutical industry produces 55 percent more carbon emissions than the automotive production industry. In total, pharmaceutical firms released 48.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, to the automotive sector’s 31.4 million.
Prior to Belkir’s research, there had only been two studies exploring the carbon footprint of pharmaceutical companies.
According to Environment Canada, more than 174 thousand tonnes of carbon emissions were produced by vehicles in Canada in 2017. That number is expected to drop over the next five years, as electric and alternative vehicles replace more gasoline-fueled vehicles.
Despite the auto industry producing less emissions than the pharmaceutical industry, there is still much work to be done.
“Clearly, there is a dire need for more extensive and sustained research” stated Belkeir.
For more information on reducing Carbon Emissions in Canada, visit www.canada.ca
