Ottawa to delay new fuel standards, ask oil and gas sector for more emissions cuts
Global News
Cabinet approved the final regulations for the long-awaited Clean Fuel Standard last week, which were obtained ahead of their intended publication on July 6.
The federal government is delaying new emissions standards on gasoline and diesel another year but is demanding the oil and gas sector make bigger cuts to fuel emissions by 2030 given how much more money the companies are now making.
Cabinet approved the final regulations for the long-awaited Clean Fuel Standard last week and The Canadian Press obtained them today ahead of their intended publication on July 6.
A confluence of communications errors led to the regulations being distributed early upon request and the government was scrambling Monday to inform provinces as the news was about to leak.
“The CFS will be a key tool that complements pollution pricing and the pending oil and gas sector emission cap, to cut emissions and drive the use of clean fuels and technology in Canada,” a statement from Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s office said Monday.
“Since the previous draft of the CFS, we’ve been working to make this as focused as possible on our end goal — driving down emissions and driving up innovation.”
The Clean Fuel Standard was first promised in 2016 as part of the Liberals’ first climate plan. At that time it was expected it would cut 30 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year by 2030, but a new analysis based on the final regulations is expected shortly.
The initial plan was to have draft regulations ready by the spring of 2020, but the draft wasn’t published until December 2021, and was followed by a mandatory six-month comment period.
The draft regulations said the new standard would kick into gear in December 2022. But the final regulations say the first compliance check will now be in December 2023.