• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska March 14, 2023
U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse March 14, 2023
$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’ March 14, 2023
UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’ March 9, 2023
Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions March 9, 2023
Next
Prev

Clean Fuel Standard Can Deliver on Paris Goals, But Ottawa Must Get Started Now

November 24, 2017
Reading time: 2 minutes

John O. Brostrup U.S. National Parks Service/wikimedia commons

John O. Brostrup U.S. National Parks Service/wikimedia commons

 

While carbon pricing receives a lot of the attention in Canadian climate policy, the clean fuel standard is a key ingredient that will enable the country to meet its targets under the Paris agreement and build homegrown industries to drive a post-carbon future.

That’s the conclusion Clean Energy Canada’s Merran Smith and Jeremy Moorhouse reach this week in a Globe and Mail op ed.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

But while the clean fuel standard “will cut far more carbon pollution than federal carbon pricing,” they write, “you probably haven’t heard of it.”

Although it’s still being designed, the standard will aim to cut 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the equivalent of taking more than seven million (internal combustion) cars off the road. “The clean fuel standard targets not only transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, but also those used in buildings and industry, such as natural gas,” Smith and Moorhouse note. “It would require fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity (the amount of carbon pollution released for every unit of fuel consumed) of their product, while offering flexibility in how they choose to do so.”

The standard could triple clean fuel use in Canada in the next dozen years, expanding the sector by $5.6 billion and creating up to 31,000 skilled jobs. “Canada’s biofuel industry, the biggest beneficiary, could roughly double in size—thanks to this single policy.” And the cost to most Canadians would be the same as a cup of coffee per month.

While the business and job creation opportunity is there to be tapped, Smith and Moorhouse say Ottawa will have to move swiftly to get the job done in time to meet its commitments under the Paris agreement—the same Harper-era commitments that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna have both declared a floor, not a ceiling, for the country’s climate ambition.

“Study after study has reached the same conclusion: for Canada to achieve its 2030 and 2050 climate targets, we must switch to cleaner fuels. But this switch will take time, so we need to start now,” they write.

In fact, that time lapse is the reason to set a standard. “In California and B.C., the clean fuel standard provides a long-term, consistent signal to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. Companies can take the long view and invest wisely because they know what to expect for years to come.”



in Auto & Alternative Vehicles, Bioenergy, Buildings, Canada, Clean Electricity Grid, Ending Emissions, Oil & Gas, Sub-National Governments

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Environmental Defence Canada/flickr
Shale & Fracking

Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe

March 17, 2023
177
U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr
Oil & Gas

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
115
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr
Community Climate Finance

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
331

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
331
Environmental Defence Canada/flickr

Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe

March 17, 2023
177
Rebecca Bollwitt/flickr

Fossils Stay ‘Oily’, Gibsons Sues Big Oil, U.S. Clean Energy Booms, EU Pushes Fossil Phaseout, and Fukushima Disaster was ‘No Accident’

March 14, 2023
177
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board/flickr

$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’

March 14, 2023
236
Behrat/Wikimedia Commons

Hawaii Firm Turns Home Water Heaters into Grid Batteries

March 14, 2023
439
Joshua Doubek/Wikipedia

No New Jobs Came from Alberta’s $4B ‘Job Creation’ Tax Cut for Big Oil

October 6, 2022
805

Recent Posts

U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
115
EcoAnalytics

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
123
Raysonho/wikimedia commons

Purolator Pledges $1B to Electrify Last-Mile Delivery

March 14, 2023
79
United Nations

UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’

March 10, 2023
94
Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions

March 10, 2023
185
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

First Nation Scorches Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Over Toxic Leak

March 8, 2023
374
Next Post
UniEnergy Technologies/Wikimedia Commons

Analysts See Energy Storage ‘Doubling Six Times’ by 2030

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}