We strongly support the…

We strongly support the proposal for increasing the renewable content in gasoline to 15%. This will have the identified benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the Ontario fuel pool while creating an economic development opportunity for innovative Ontario-based renewable fuel companies.

Measuring and recognizing the carbon intensity of these renewable fuels is the key to create a market that allows both the traditional petroleum and the renewable fuels industries to benefit. Recognizing the added value in lower carbon intensity fuels creates the market pull from the petroleum industry.

Ontario is rich in renewable feedstocks such as agricultural products and forestry/agricultural residues which can be used for the production of first and second generation biofuels. We believe that innovative Ontario-based companies are ready to invest and create the needed low carbon intensity fuels to fulfill this market need.

However, these companies and their investors need to have long term certainty (10+ years) to justify projects to produce the needed additional lower carbon intensity fuels. Clear government policy is needed quickly to create this certainty as developing and building these production facilities takes two or three years to complete. Moving the mandate forward from 2025 could be helpful in this regard.