Canada car makers reach historic agreement to cut emissions

Sat 04 June 2005 View all news

The Canadian Government and nearly all of the world's major car makers have reached an agreement under which the companies will voluntarily cut emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the vehicles they sell in Canada.

According to the Sierra Club, the agreement means that GHG emissions from cars will be cut by 10m tonnes between 2007-2010 and by 5.3m tonnes in 2010. This represents an overall fuel efficiency improvement of about 25% from current levels, and over a short timescale.

The agreement is for a similar level of reductions to those planned in California and over which there is much dispute.

At the moment, California and seven of the Eastern seaboard states either have or are in the process of adopting laws to cut GHG emissions.

According to the Sierra Club's Washington-based Dan Becker: "The automakers will find it financially impossible to make one clean set of cars for eight states and Canada and a dirty set for the rest...Eight plus one equals 50."

Related Links

Washington Post story link
Sierra Club news release



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