Heavy-duty freight emissions can be managed without crushing economy: report
OTTAWA — Hauling goods across the country is a major and fast-growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, but addressing the problem needn’t create an economic doomsday scenario, a new report suggests.
There are no silver bullets to help Canada’s trucking and rail industries curb emissions, but there are ways to keep those emissions down while continuing to allow the number of shipments to grow, says the new Pembina Institute report.
The report, entitled “State of Freight,” says freight accounts for more than one-tenth of the country’s annual emissions, with most of it coming from trucking.
Report co-author Eli Angen calls it one of the most overlooked sources of emissions, but says with clean fuel standards and more emphasis on finding technology to address standards for heavy-duty vehicles, the sector could keep growing while keeping emissions down.