Transportation Climate Change Table

In December 1997, Canada along with other developed countries negotiated the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Canada agreed to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by six percent over 1990 levels during the five-year period from 2008 to 2012. In May 1998, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of transportation established the Transportation Climate Change Table as part of a national process to develop a climate change strategy in response to the Kyoto Protocol. The Table was comprised of transportation sector experts from a broad cross-section of business and industry, government, environmental groups and non-governmental organizations. It was mandated to identify specific measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from Canada's transport sector.

The Transportation Climate Change Table submitted its Options Paper, "Transportation and Climate Change: Options for Action" to Ministers of Transportation and the National Climate Change Secretariat in November 1999. The Options Paper assesses the costs, benefits and impacts of over 100 measures.

The Transportation Table undertook 24 studies in support of the Options Paper. These studies and other research documents are available upon request by email at: climatechange@tc.gc.ca.

In February 2000, the Transportation Table held workshops with stakeholders in eight cities across Canada, to gather a broader range of regional and sectoral input on the measures in the Options Paper. The results of these workshops are summarized in a Companion Report to the Options Paper, submitted to Ministers of Transport and the national climate change process.

The views and options contained in the Options Paper and the Companion Report are those of the Transportation Table - they do not represent federal government policy, nor are they the property of Transport Canada.