We live in a society of tweets and platitudes. When it comes to public policy, organizations, both political and non-political, need to make statements because they truly intend to fix the issues – and not because it’s what they think needs to be said, or, more accurately, what they think the audience wants to hear. 

Despite obstacles and challenges which would cause many other sectors to abandon their responsibilities, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and its members are firmly committed to improving the environmental and emissions-related performance of our commercial vehicles.

These are not merely words – our sector has backed this claim with almost 30 years of historic investments in technologies that have virtually eliminated criteria air pollutants from heavy trucks – but these investments have come at a very high price for our sector.

Billions were spent on equipment that simply could not meet operational demands, the consequence of which has left carriers, truck drivers and our suppliers in an untenable position. 

From a moral and “societal good” perspective, yes, it was certainly the right thing to do. But considering the monetary and operational pain the industry experienced during this period, history cannot repeat itself.

Do we all want clean air and less carbon in our atmosphere to benefit our environment and future generations to come? Yes, but this path must be guided by pragmatic, gradual, and achievable approaches. 

This brings us to 2024, when the trucking industry in Canada is faced with two environmental regulations that need to be rethought along these lines: the carbon tax and Phase 3 of heavy truck equipment regulations governing carbon emissions.

Carbon tax

Let’s deal with the carbon tax first. It is designed to inflate the price of fossil fuels and, consequently, encourage the end user (in our case, those who own/operate a truck), to switch from diesel to a fuel/propulsion method that is less carbon intensive.

While the policy may be well intentioned for some consumers, the problem for trucking is we don’t have viable and widely available alternatives to diesel; this does not even consider the myriad of other obstacles like technical readiness, geographic viability and infrastructure. 

The ability of the carbon tax to reduce GHG emissions or change consumer behavior continues to be debated in the political forum, but for trucking the challenge is less complicated.

It’s robbing small and large fleets of valuable dollars needed to reinvest into their businesses – into equipment to make businesses more productive, more environmentally friendly with proven, efficient technology and to make the industry more attractive and viable to an ever-evolving new labor pool. 

The CTA estimates the carbon tax of 17.4 cents per liter translates into extra fuel costs for an average longhaul truck operator of between $15,000 – $20,000 per year per truck. A small business owner with just five trucks is seeing up to $100,000 in added carbon tax costs.

This is money that can be more effectively used by fleets, to grow their businesses and make strategic investments into equipment, operations or people that can drive productivity, efficiency, and profitability. 

The carbon tax effectively sucks these investments and growth out of the economy without even changing environmental behavior. Worse, like water through cracks, many of these supply chain costs trickle down to Canadian consumers who are already hurting from record inflation. 

Phase 3 EPA standards 

If the carbon tax wasn’t burdensome and costly enough, there are more headwinds gathering. Phase 3 of the greenhouse gas regulations for heavy trucks are coming in Canada, and based on what CTA is seeing from the EPA discourse in the U.S., once again, the well-to-do platitudes are not keeping pace anywhere close to the realities. 

Setting targets makes sense in theory, but they must match the available and suitable technology and infrastructure; and policy makers need to work with the targeted sector to develop realistic timelines and a process that feasibly accelerates the transition to a low carbon trucking sector.

To illustrate these realities to government, the CTA has been working with the environmental not-for-profit group, Pollution Probe, on a soon-to-be released national report, which outlines carriers’ views on decarbonization, including the realities of alternative fuels and transitional methods of propulsion in trucking.

The report will highlight the current state of this process, challenges and barriers, and display the willingness of the trucking sector to work with supplier and government partners to meet these ends.  

We need Ottawa and the provinces to work with the trucking industry on practical solutions, not look for opportunities to make bold timeline announcements that are not connected to our current or near-future reality. 

Remove carbon tax from diesel

And while we ask Ottawa not to blindly succumb to the pressures of advocacy groups –some of whom have little regard for the technological and operational realties of our sector, nor care for the ramifications of bad policy on our sector – the trucking industry must also take onus and continue its commitment to investment and pushing the boundaries of how we operate. 

In our view, this process starts with removing the carbon tax from diesel fuel and working with government on solutions which help us reach our environmental goals together, in the most achievable way.