Peter Kent, Canada’s Environment Minister has announced final regulations to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new on-road heavy-duty vehicles and engines. This is another step to align the environmental regulations with the United States.

“With these tough new measures, GHG emissions from 2018 model-year heavy-duty vehicles will be reduced by up to 23 per cent,” said Minister Kent. “The regulations will also lead to improved fuel efficiency. For example, a semi-truck operator driving a 2018 model-year vehicle will save up to $8,000 per year in fuel.”

The Regulations will establish progressively more stringent standards for 2014 to 2018 model-year heavy-duty vehicles such as full-size pick-ups, semi-trucks, garbage trucks and buses. The Regulations will remain in full effect for all subsequent model-year vehicles, which will be required to adhere to the 2018 standard, and will result in GHG reductions of 19.1 megatonnes over the lifetime of the 2014-2018 model-year vehicles.

The announcement was made at the Mississauga terminal of Bison Transport and was attended by industry officials including David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance.