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Environment and Climate Change Canada
Let’s Talk Climate Change
2016-06-28
Table of contents
General ideas on addressing climate change
Page 03
How and where to reduce emissions
Page 04
Clean technology, innovation, and job creation
Page 05
Putting a price on carbon
Page 06
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RICanada // Let’s Talk Climate Change
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Theme:
General ideas on addressing climate change
Renewable Industries Canada: General Ideas on Addressing Climate Change.
Quite simply, achieving a low-carbon future depends on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In broad terms, this can best
be accomplished by:
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Accelerating the implementation of lower GHG alternatives
Encouraging the development of new low emitting technologies
Introducing measures to foster behavioral change (e.g., carbon pricing)
Ensuring that new measures deliver the intended results by implementing accurate and transparent monitoring
of GHG emissions and removals
Biofuels are already in our fuel mix and have been proven to dramatically reduce GHG emissions (compared to fossil fuels):
studies have shown GHG emission reductions of 62% for ethanol and as much as 99% for renewable diesel. Renewable fuels are
already removing 4.2 megatonnes of carbon from our environment every year, the equivalent of one million vehicles being
removed from Canada’s roads. To build on this impressive progress, Renewable Industries Canada recommends:
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Expanding the federal renewable fuel standards for biodiesel (from 2%) to 5% nationally
Increasing the federal renewable fuel standards for ethanol (from 5%) to up to 10% nationally
Allocating a percentage of the Budget 2016 green infrastructure funds to assist fuel outlets to add higher blend
fuel pumps for flex fuel cars by offering higher ethanol blends, and higher biodiesel blends for heavy duty
vehicles
These simple measures can have an effect equivalent to removing an additional million vehicles worth of GHG emissions by
2020. There is no other policy or regulatory measure that can generate such an immediate and significant impact on greenhouse
gas emissions.
As a further step,, an effort to accelerate innovation in renewable fuels couldhelp existing biofuels producers to become more
efficient, while spurring first-in-kind technologies capable of producing advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol derived
from waste.
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How and where to reduce emissions
Biofuels are a “here and now” solution to GHGs.
GHG emissions in Canada have never declined. In fact, they have been rising for decades. In 2014, Canada's transportation sector
accounted for almost 25% of total emissions, second only to the oil and gas sector. If we are going to win the fight against
climate change, we need to reduce transportation sector GHG emissions sooner rather than later. The measures that have been
introduced to date are projected to stop the growth in transportation emissions but additional measures are needed to reduce the
sector emissions.
Biofuels are the quickest route to GHG emission reductions in the transportation sector. It is only when the mandate for
renewable fuel was implemented that we began to see evidence of a decline in GHG emissions despite steadily increasing
gasoline sales.
When blended into our fuel supply, renewable fuels reduce emissions from the transportation sector by displacing petroleum
products. Biofuels are already in our fuel mix and have been proven to dramatically reduce GHG emissions (compared to fossil
fuels): studies have shown GHG emission reductions of 62% for ethanol and as much as 99% for renewable diesel. Renewable
fuels are already removing 4.2 megatonnes of carbon from our environment every year, the equivalent of one million vehicles
being removed from Canada’s roads.
Given the evidence, it stands to reason that renewable, low-carbon fuels should continue to be an essential part of any carbon
mitigation strategy. Renewable Industries Canada offers the following specific recommendations:
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Expand the federal renewable fuel standard for biodiesel from 2% to 5% nationally.
Increase the federal renewable fuel standard for ethanol from 5% up to 10% nationally.
Allocate a percentage of the Budget 2016 green infrastructure funds to assist fuel outlets add higher blend fuel
pumps for flex fuel cars and higher biodiesel blends for heavy duty vehicles.
More than any other low-carbon option currently available, renewable fuels can balance the tension between moving too quickly
for the public and too slowly for business. Increasing their use requires no consumer behavioral changes and provides immediate
environmental and economic benefits.
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Clean technology, innovation, and job creation
Fighting Climate Change can Create Jobs.
Biofuels helped start the transition to a low-carbon economy and helped lay the foundation for a new suite of bio-based products
and technologies.
Accelerating innovation in renewable fuels will make existing biofuels producers more efficient and technologically diverse. It
will also spur first-in-kind technologies capable of producing fuel from a growing range of materials including agricultural
residue, forestry waste, and even solid municipal waste. Such initiatives could include:
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Research, development, and deployment opportunities for new biofuel and bio-based technologies.
Policies that support and assist with the financing of the deployment of new first-of-kind technologies, including
for pre-commercial demonstration plants.
A tax exemption for advanced biofuels (e.g., cellulosic ethanol) to encourage use and market uptake, similar to
what has been done for other alternative fuels (e.g., propane and natural gas).
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Theme:
Putting a price on carbon
Carbon Pricing Must Be Measured.
Generally speaking, in order to limit anything, it must be measured, valued, and counted. Market-based approaches that put a
price on carbon can reduce GHG emissions and do so cost-effectively. However, the price for greenhouse gas emissions must
consider both the cost of the environmental damages (i.e., GHG emissions in fossil fuels) and the value of the environmental
benefits (i.e., GHG reductions in biofuels) that otherwise is not included in the market price of fuels.
Any approach to carbon pricing should:
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Include a review of existing tax systems to ensure that they are not counter-productive. (Simply taxing fuels on a
volume basis rather than on energy or emissions would fail to distinguish between higher and lower emitting fuels.)
Ensure that any pricing/taxation is applied in a manner (i.e., at a point) that does not give foreign producers an
advantage over domestic producers. This is particularly important for low carbon products that replace high carbon
products.
Use the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) as the basis for establishing a price, so as to facilitate trading within and
among Canadian provinces and California;
Incorporate ‘rewards’ for companies investing in and/or producing low Carbon Intensity (CI) fuels;
Allow for flexibility in the trading of carbon credits;
Use a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) analysis to capture environmental benefits from carbon reduction
through lowering GHGs;
Introduce an emissions trading system that ensures regulated emitters have the flexibility to use the most cost-effective
combination of buying or selling emission permits, reducing emissions by installing cleaner technology, or reducing
emissions by reducing production.
Recognize that the most cost-effective strategy depends on the polluter's marginal abatement cost and the market price
of permits.
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Contact
William Meyer
Manager, Communications and Stakeholder Relations
P: 613-594-5528 ext 228
E: [email protected]
T: @RenewCan
W: RICanada.org
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