Science Belongs to the Public: How Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory is Putting Pollution Data in the Hands of the Public

You’re staring out the window from the passenger seat on your way home to visit family and see the local pulp and paper mill. You’ve passed it a hundred times, its white plumes rising from the chimneys. This time, however, it piques your curiosity. What is this facility releasing into the air you breathe? What about the soil and water? Luckily, you can pull up Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory¹  (NPRI) dashboard on your phone, zoom in on your location and find the answers you’re looking for.

The NPRI is Canada’s public inventory of pollutants released, disposed of and transferred by facilities across the country. Administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the NPRI started in 1992 in the spirit of the environmental movement and interest in aligning with the community right-to-know principle (10) of the United Nations’ Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.²

In fact, the mandate for the Government of Canada to put pollution data in the hands of the public is enshrined in law (see sections 48 and 50 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act).³ Annual data for nearly 500 pollutants must be submitted to the NPRI by all types of industrial, commercial and institutional facilities if they meet the reporting requirements, which generally focus on medium to large enterprises, with a few additional inclusions for facilities of any size that conduct specific activities (such as wood preservation and sewage sludge incineration). It is then made accessible, for free, to the public by the NPRI in both technical and easily approachable formats. These formats include downloadable datasets, an online search tool, online maps, dashboards and reports with additional contextual information. These varied tools serve to offer data users the flexibility to meet their equally varied data needs, whether that is performing comprehensive analysis or extracting specific subsets of focused data or browsing ready-made visualizations. 

And those are only the products created and published by ECCC! Other organizations also provide publicly available online interactive tools that integrate NPRI data, such as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s Taking Stock website for comparing Canadian, Mexican and American pollution data⁴ and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s global pollutant release dashboard.⁵ 

However, making data freely available and accessible through appealing formats, such as dashboards or online maps, does not always lead to use or engagement. For this reason, ECCC undertakes outreach efforts aimed at both the public and the academic community to promote the data and capture the interest of curious minds, from beginners to data science experts. This is done through a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that includes partnerships with universities, museums, international organizations and local communities. Pollution data has been showcased at events such as the Eurêka! Festival in Montréal (most recently in 2025) and local science fairs, and has even featured in museum exhibits through collaboration with Ingenium⁶ and Science North for educational displays. 

NPRI data is well suited to education, which led to the launch of the NPRI Academic Challenge⁷ in 2018. This initiative introduces the dataset to college, CEGEP and university classrooms, giving students the opportunity to carry out research projects using NPRI data with mentorship and guidance. As of 2025, the NPRI Academic Challenge has engaged hundreds of students from 18 academic institutions across Canada. Many projects are co-designed with course professors to offer a tailored learning experience. By familiarizing the next generation with the NPRI, the initiative empowers students to take informed action on environmental issues and equips them to use data in their future fields of study and work.

Greater awareness and easier access to pollution data have led to a range of applications and benefits. Academia has made extensive use of the NPRI: between 1997 and 2019, 225 scholarly journal articles drew on the dataset and that number continues to grow each year.⁸ Beyond formal research, NPRI data is also used as an instructional tool, from high school to post-secondary classrooms, even outside the Academic Challenge.

Journalists also turn NPRI data into concrete storylines that reach the wider public, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) also serve as a link between pollution data and communities to ensure they are informed on local and country-wide environmental concerns. For example, Mining Watch once hosted an information session to community members in Rouyn-Noranda on using and interpreting NPRI data in spring 2024. Additionally, they and other NGOs, such as the Canadian Environmental Law Association, analyze and interpret pollution data to help shape policy debates on pollution controls, innovations in clean technology and even influence the NPRI program itself through the Consultative Work Group. 

As the NPRI approaches its 35th anniversary, it has demonstrated how open data can effectively connect science, society and policy. Looking ahead to its fourth decade, potential enhancements (e.g., expanding data visualization tools with contextual overlays, promoting citizen science initiatives that make use of NPRI data and further integrating findings into science, technology and innovation policy planning) promise even stronger outcomes. These efforts show how strategically mobilizing environmental data to increase transparency, promote science education, and strengthen public engagement contributes to the advancement of knowledge, environmental decision-making, and innovation in Canada.

References:

1. National Pollutant Release Inventory: https://www.canada.ca/NPRI   
2. United Nations’ Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_CONF.151_26_Vol.I_Declaration.pdf
3. Canadian Environmental Protection Act: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-15.31/FullText.html
4. Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s Taking Stock: https://www.cec.org/files/tsinteractive/index-en.html 
5. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Dashboard: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/monitoring-and-preventing-industrial-pollution.html 
6. Ingenium collaboration: https://ingenium.ca/en/learn/teachers-zone/resources/pollutants-in-your-environment/ 
7. National Pollutant Release Inventory Academic Challenge: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/pollution-waste-management/national-pollutant-release-inventory/partnerships/academic-challenge.html 
8. Use of the National Pollutant Release Inventory in Environmental Research – A Scoping Review: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/er-2020-0122