Canada, U.S. May Join Forces to Ban New Gas-powered Cars
So, Quebec wants to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, following the lead of California. And British Columbia previously announced a bill to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
When should we expect a complete ban of combustion engines across the continent?
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As Canada seeks deeper environmental ties with the U.S., Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Ottawa and the incoming administration of American President-elect Joe Biden both agreed to accelerate the deployment of electric vehicles.
In an interview with Reuters, Wilkinson wondered about “whether there is a North American pathway to doing something like that” (to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles).
The two neighbouring countries will soon have discussions about this and also ways to improve the overall performance of the transport sector, which represents approximately 25 percent of total Canadian greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Wilkinson, the example of some European countries and Quebec and British Columbia will be part of the conversation.
Back in 2017, Canada set a goal to have all new vehicles sold in the country be fully emission-free by 2040.
In the strengthened climate plan announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on December 11, we learned that Ottawa also targets a proportion of 10 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030. An additional $287 million will be invested over two years, starting in 2020-2021, to continue the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program until March 2022. Another $150 million over three years will go to charging and refueling stations across Canada.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s green plan announced earlier this year includes incentives for automakers to produce zero-emission vehicles.
