Cleaner Air Plan

Since late May, two almost full-page ads have been running weekly in the major newspapers: white taglines over black and white photos —“We have a plan to do more. And everyone’s a part of it.”— and— “Believe it or not, we can reduce emissions with every new car.” Two logos anchor the underlying text: the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (CVMA) and then, simply, the Canadian flag. Both ads refer to a website, www.cvma.ca, for more about the “Auto Green Plan – a comprehensive plan for cleaner air and a greener tomorrow.”

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association represents Canada's largest manufacturers of light and heavy-duty motor vehicles including Daimler Chrysler Canada, Ford Canada, General Motors of Canada, and International Truck and Engine Corporation Canada. The “Auto Green Plan” refers to the voluntary agreement that all Canadian vehicle manufacturers entered into in 2005 with the federal government. The “other” car manufacturers in Canada—from Acura and Audi to Toyota and Volkswagen—belong to the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada (AIAMC), also a signatory to this agreement.

The CVMA website links to updates on the “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Canada and the Canadian Auto Industry on Greenhouse Gas Emissions”—the Auto Green Plan— the second of which, issued at the end of May 2007, details progress under the MOU through the fourth quarter of 2006.

The key objective of all the industry signatories is to work together, “to reduce annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions …by 5.3 megatonnes (Mt) in 2010… relative to the reference case.” GHG emissions are broadly defined to include all the GHGs under the international agreement “Convention on Climate Change” that apply to the use of motor vehicles including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons and other gases equated to a carbon dioxide equivalent value in megatonnes. The “reference case” is the chosen benchmark based on Canadian federal government forecasts for emissions established in 1999. On the way to 2010, interim reduction goals have been set at 2.4 Mt in 2007, 3.0 Mt in 2008 and 3.9 Mt in 2009.

The plan has five components:

First is new technologies: those that are already being introduced— both MOU progress reports include appendices with impressive lists of advanced technology introductions by each manufacturer— and those that are in the works: the next generation technologies including “more advanced clean diesel engines, plug-in hybrids, next generation electric vehicles, hydrogen internal combustion engines and emission-free hydrogen fuel cells.”

Second is making accessible bio-fuel alternatives to go with the bio-powered vehicles already on our roads.

Third is “getting old polluting vehicles off the road.” (General Motors is currently advertising its sponsorship of a program offering $1,000 towards the purchase of a new GM vehicle “when you send your old clunker” to the scrapyard.

Fourth is improvement of the fleet of government-owned vehicles, partly to set an example and also to jump start the use and distribution of better alternative fuels.