Press release

Québec Joins the Drive to Zero Initiative to Accelerate the Arrival of Clean-Energy Trucks and Buses on Our Roads

New York, September 24, 2019. – The Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, announced today in New York, where he is participating in Climate Week, that Québec has signed the Drive to Zero Pledge to accelerate the market for low-carbon-emission heavy vehicles. The minister made the announcement during an event jointly organized by the Québec government, New York City, and Calstart, the non-profit organization that launched the initiative in September 2018.

In so doing, Québec is committing to share its transportation electrification knowledge and expertise, coordinate its efforts with those of all partners to make zero-emission technology commercially viable by 2025 in the heavy vehicle market (which includes heavy-duty trucks, urban and school buses) and ensure that global sales of these vehicles dominate by 2040.

By joining the initiative, Québec wants to make it known that it has the assets needed for transportation electrification as well as for investing in research and innovation and in the ground transportation industrial sector.

“Since the ground transportation sector is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Québec, zero-emission vehicles have a key role to play in our fight against climate change. The goals of the Drive to Zero Pledge are directly aligned with our objective to accelerate our transportation electrification, and we are therefore extremely pleased to be a part of it. We are proud that Québec has technologically advanced companies that have carved out a place for themselves in the heavy vehicle electrification niche market. With its domestically developed expertise, Québec can make a major contribution to the initiative.”

Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change

Quick facts:

The transportation sector is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Québec, accounting for 43% of total emissions.
The Drive to Zero Pledge was launched by Calstart during the September 2018 Global Climate Action Summit held in California.
To date, 58 organizations, companies and governments have signed the pledge, including the Québec government and four Québec companies.

Associated link:

For more about the Drive to Zero initiative: https://globaldrivetozero.org/about/pledge/

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SOURCE :

Louis-Julien Dufresne
Press Officer
Office of the Minister
of the Environment and the Fight
against Climate Change
Tel.: 418 521-3911

INFORMATION :

Media Relations
Ministère de l’Environnement
et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques
Tel.: 418 521-3991