Tailpipe Emission Standards
- In British Columbia, 35 per cent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2006 were from the transportation sector. Of these, 40 per cent (14 per cent of all emissions) came from passenger vehicles, 27 per cent from heavy duty vehicles and 15 per cent from off-road vehicles. The remaining 20 per cent came from marine, air and rail transportation.
- The Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Vehicle Emissions Standards) Act sets vehicle GHG emission standards equivalent to those laid out in California's 2004 regulation.
- Seventeen U.S. states have adopted or are in the process of adopting these same standards, while six others are actively considering adopting them. Twelve out of Canada's 13 provinces and territories support these standards. Together, these states and provinces have a combined population of 176 million and represent nearly half of all new car sales in the U.S. and Canada.
- The standards require automakers' fleets of vehicles to remain within fleet-average GHG emission standards. This means that higher emission vehicles can still be sold - as long as manufacturers also sell enough low-emission vehicles to bring the average of all the vehicles they sell within the standards. This ensures continued choice for consumers.
- The Act also gives the government authority to require the makers of larger vehicles to include a certain percentage (or number) of zero-emission vehicles among the vehicles they sell each year.
- Tailpipe emission standards are an effective way of reducing GHG emissions by encouraging manufacturers to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles.
- These new standards are expected to reduce personal vehicle GHG emissions in B.C. by 30 per cent compared to most 2005 models. This will eliminate approximately one million tonnes of GHG emissions annually by 2016 - the equivalent of taking 233,000 vehicles off the road.
