The Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) part of the federal government’s wider suite of policies intended to reduce GHG emissions and help achieve Canada’s Paris Agreement commitments.
It is designed to reduce the amount of lifecycle emissions associated with each unit of liquid fossil fuel (e.g. gasoline, diesel, and heavy fuel) burned in Canada. Between 2022 and 2030, the CFS sets annual, incrementally increasing carbon intensity (CI) reduction requirements for liquid fossil fuels consumed in Canada. The goal is to reduce emissions by a projected 20.6 megatonnes annually by 2030.
Since the publication of our first paper, Getting it Right the First Time: Issues and Options for Improving the Clean Fuel Standard, the federal government released its A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy climate plan, which addressed several concerns we identified in the paper.
However, many concerns were left unaddressed. This updated paper assesses the recent changes made to the policy; consider how the updated CFS proposal will impact Alberta businesses and consumers; and propose further implementation improvements to optimize its impact.
