The federal government is developing regulations to reduce the amount of carbon in transportation and heating fuels. Part of the government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, the regulation aims to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by ramping up the use of lower-carbon fuels and alternative technologies.
Low-carbon fuel standards, as they are known, have been approved across Europe and some jurisdictions in North America, such as California.
Canada’s proposal to create what it’s calling the Clean Fuel Standard is good news. Based on the latest data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECC), the transportation sector represents 24 per cent of our country’s total GHG emissions, second only to the oil and gas sector (at 26 per cent).
The Clean Fuel Standard also proposes to regulate at the supplier level, which includes the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, the largest refinery in Canada.
ECCC released a discussion paper and is consulting with provinces, territories, stakeholders, and Indigenous Peoples to develop the regulation under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.
The Conservation Council recently signed on to an excellent paper developed by our friends and colleagues at the Pembina Institute offering comments and recommendations for the development of a Clean Fuel Standard. Read the submission here.