Let’s get those dirty old vehicles off B.C. roads

SCRAP-IT helps motorists go green, says Dennis Rogoza.

In the last several days, there has been a great deal of media coverage about the establishment of an LNG terminal on B.C.’s North Coast.

Much of the commentary has referenced this initiative as the largest single private investment in Canadian history along with the significant economic and employment benefits that will flow to B.C. However, this project will also result in millions of tonnes of added carbon emissions.

As Premier John Horgan has stated, all sectors of the economy now need to step up to address the challenge of meeting the province’s ambitious carbon reduction goals for 2030 and beyond.

Part of the climate problem, and solution, can be found in transportation.

We’re a society that’s constantly on the move; walking, biking, riding transit and, in large part, by driving a vehicle. Today, B.C. has the oldest fleet of vehicles on the road in Canada. About a quarter of a million licensed vehicles in Greater Vancouver, alone, were built in the last century and these higher-polluting, older vehicles produce much higher greenhouse gas emissions than new vehicles.

For B.C. families, a vehicle accounts for about 45 per cent of their total annual carbon emissions. The fastest way for a family, and for government, to meet the premier’s challenge is to replace these vehicles with new low-carbon models, such as electric vehicles.

For example, if a family that owns a 1997 Honda Civic replaced it with a Honda Insight Hybrid, that family’s daily carbon emissions from their vehicle would decline by about 75 per cent. No other sector of the economy can have this level of immediate carbon-reduction impact.

There is no question that electric vehicles are part of B.C.’s long-term transportation solution. SCRAP-IT offers a $6,000 incentive program for consumers to scrap their old vehicles and switch to all-electric vehicles. Under our smallscale

If a family that owns a 1997 Honda Civic replaced it with a Honda Insight Hybrid, that family’s daily carbon emissions from their vehicle would decline by about 75 per cent.

program, several thousand consumers have already made this switch and many more want to do so. But affordability is a key barrier. Many families simply can’t afford to purchase a new low-carbon vehicle.

Consumers respond to incentives, especially when they also know they’re achieving an environmental objective. This is reflected in the fact that more than 44,000 heavy polluting vehicles have been scrapped under the B.C. SCRAP-IT program and replaced by a lowercarbon vehicle.

Clearly, we need to remove as many old, higher polluting vehicles from the road as possible, as soon as possible, to get closer to meeting our carbon-reduction goals. We know the millions of added tonnes of carbon emissions from LNG makes the climate challenge a lot tougher and while SCRAP-IT doesn’t, in itself, address the overall challenge, it can be a significant step.

A big challenge requires a big solution, in the form of an investment in a large-scale incentive program for consumers that enables them to scrap their old vehicles and replace them with an electric vehicle.

Unlike most carbon-reduction solutions, this one is already in place. Consumers are ready to step up to meet the premier’s challenge and SCRAP-IT is ready to deliver such a program.

If the B.C. government helps families in this province replace older, heavy polluting vehicles with low-carbon vehicles in greater numbers, it’s much more likely that B.C.’s legislated climate reduction targets will be within reach.