Canada and the United States Announce Common Standards for Regulating GHG Emissions from New Vehicles

April 01, 2010

OTTAWA, Ont. - The Government of Canada today released tough new proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles and which would harmonize with the mandatory national standards of the United States beginning with the 2011 model year. Today's release of the proposed Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations is the next step in the process that was announced by Environment Minister Jim Prentice in April 2009.

“Since last May, we’ve been working with the United States to put in place tough North American standards for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles,” said Minister Prentice. “We are pleased to be taking this step to further harmonize our climate change action with the Obama administration – a step that will protect our environment and ensure a level playing field for the automotive industry.”

These new regulations would deliver certainty to the automotive industry and will require significant technological improvements to vehicles to reduce GHG emissions. As a result of the proposed regulations, it is projected that the average GHG emission performance of new vehicles of the 2016 model year will be about 25% lower than the vehicles that were sold in Canada in 2008. These improvements are expected to result in a cumulative reduction of 92 Mt CO2e in GHG emissions over the lifetime of the 2011-2016 model year vehicles sold in Canada.

Early draft regulations were released in December 2009 for consultations with provinces, territories and stakeholders. Their views have been taken into account in the development of the proposed regulations that were posted today at www.ec.gc.ca/vehicle-regs and will be published in the Gazette April 17, 2010.  Following a 60-day formal public comment period, final regulations are expected to be published in the Canada Gazette Part II in the summer of 2010 and to come into effect for the 2011 model year.

Canada is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020, a target which reflects the importance of aligning with US policy. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles will play an important role in helping us achieve that goal. Cars and light trucks account for about 12% of Canada's total GHG emissions.


Related documents:

Key Features of Canada's Proposed Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations [Backgrounder 2010-01-04]

Regulating GHG Emissions from New Vehicles in Canada [Backgrounder 2010-01-04]