Motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs

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Motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions

Regulation respecting greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles

Amendments to the Regulation

News Release

Stricter light vehicle GHG emission standards announced for the United States and Canada: a victory for Québec and Federated States (2010-04-01)
Québec regulation on light vehicle GHG emissions - Québec applies the California standards (2009-12-29)

With 40% of overall emissions, half of which come from light vehicles, the transportation industry is Québec’s biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. These emissions have been constantly rising since 1990.

In order to reverse this trend and help reach the 2006-2012 Climate Change Action Plan GHG emission reduction objective, the Government of Québec announced that a GHG emission standard for new light vehicles would come into force in January 2010 equivalent to the standard in effect in California and several other U.S. states (the majority of which are neighbors of Québec). With this decision, Québec became the first Canadian province to adopt a regulation aimed at new vehicle GHG emissions.

The regulation

The Regulation respecting greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles aims to reduce new automobile and light truck emissions for model years 2010 through 2016 that are sold, leased or otherwise marketed in Québec. Automobile manufacturers will need to ensure that their average fleet GHG emissions do not exceed the standards set by the regulation, failing which they will be subject to fees based on the extent of overage. On November 9, 2011, the Government of Québec followed in California’s footsteps and amended the Regulation respecting greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles to reflect new Canadian and American federal government requirements for motor vehicle GHG emissions.

The standards will encourage the use of more efficient technology in the transportation industry, and applying them will allow a 25% to 35% reduction in new motor vehicle emissions for the target model years.

Since June 15, 2010, the Ministère has had an online transmission service through which reports can be sent directly to our offices.