New Heavy-Duty Vehicle Rules to Save Canada Six Megatonnes of CO2 Per Year by 2030

Canada introduced new emission regulations for heavy-duty vehicles, from school buses and delivery vehicles to tractor trailers, that will cut carbon pollution by six megatonnes and save owners C$1.7 billion in fuel costs per year by 2030, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna announced yesterday.

The regulations are set to take effect in 2020.

Heavy-duty vehicles account for 9% of Canada’s emissions, and the carbon pollution they produce “has almost tripled since 1990. Today, it is comparable to emissions from coal-fired electricity,” McKenna’s department said in a release. “These regulations will decrease the growth of carbon pollution from this part of our transportation sector.”

The new rules “will also reduce trucking costs for moving goods in Canada, helping the transportation sector become more competitive,” Environment and Climate Change Canada added. Vehicle manufacturers “will have the flexibility to choose the clean technologies that will increase their fuel efficiency and reduce emissions and operating costs”, and the regulations will be phased in “to provide more lead time for industry to maximize investments in new technology and upgrade existing facilities.”

While that phase-in occurs and the new regulations ramp up to their six-megatonne-per-year target, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is expected to enable a 27-Mt annual increase in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The Pembina Institute declared the new regulation “crucial for progress in the transportation sector” and a win-win for the environment and the economy. “By setting improved standards and incentivizing the uptake of more effective vehicle emission technologies, these regulations will increase the performance of both trucks and trailers, making the freight industry more economically efficient and less polluting,” said Isabelle Turcotte, Pembina’s interim director, federal policy.