The Pembina Institute today issued the following statement regarding the voluntary agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) signed on April 5, 2005 between the federal government and the Canadian automotive industry regarding reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from automobiles.
The Pembina Institute remains disappointed that the federal government is using a voluntary agreement, rather than regulation, to obtain GHG emission reductions from automobiles. Under a voluntary agreement, automakers face no penalties if they fail to meet the agreement's objectives.
The Pembina Institute also reiterates the fact that if the government implements no other measures to reduce GHG emissions from automobiles, the agreement allows a projected 18% increase in GHG emissions from Canada's automobile fleet between 1990 and 2010. In contrast, the Kyoto Protocol requires Canada to reduce its overall GHG emissions by 6% between 1990 and 2008-12. This point is separate from the question of whether a voluntary agreement or regulation is used.
Our earlier reaction to the April 5 voluntary agreement also pointed out that the agreement fails to address the main problem causing increasing GHG emissions from automobiles in Canada: increased sales of gas-guzzlers. However, in our earlier statements we failed to recognize that the agreement contains a mechanism that leaves the government free to implement measures that do address that problem. The mechanism ensures that such measures would produce emission reductions over and above those required by the agreement.
It is therefore critical that the government urgently implement additional measures to reduce automobile GHG emissions, especially a revenue-neutral "feebate" (fee imposed on inefficient vehicles and rebate on efficient vehicles) as put forward for discussion in Budget 2005, major investments in public transit, and other initiatives to reduce car use in partnership with provinces and municipalities. These measures can be implemented under the "Programs" and "Partnership Fund" sections of the government's new Kyoto plan.
It also remains essential that the voluntary agreement is fully and credibly implemented. The work of the committee charged under the agreement with ensuring accountability must therefore be fully transparent. The best way to ensure this is to allow public interest stakeholders to participate in the work of the committee, which must be formed by June 4, 2005. Failing that, the methods adopted by the committee to quantify emission reductions under the agreement must be made public in enough detail to allow the calculation of emission reductions to be reproduced by any third party.