Canada’s Future Vehicle Emissions Standard (2024-35): Impacts on Vehicle Size and GHG Emissions
Published by:
David Suzuki Foundation and partners
Authored by:
Jonn Axsen
Partners:
Environmental Defence,
Équiterre
Climate solutions, Cities sustainable transportation
The growing market share in Canada of sport utility vehicles is challenging efforts to decarbonize the transportation system. Larger and heavier vehicles require more energy and have higher emissions. The negative role of vehicle upsizing in efficiency trends among Canada’s new vehicles sold in 2010 versus 2022 is isolated in this report. While overall fuel consumption decreased, vehicle technology improved and the switch to electric vehicles increased, growing SUV sales created negative effects. Thirty-nine per cent of the reductions in fuel consumption Canada would have seen from increased zero-emission vehicle sales and fuel economy improvements during this period (2010-22) have been wiped out by vehicle upsizing.
