Cleaner Transportation Fuels Regulation - Technical Guideline updates for facilities with non-fuel products

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks regulates:

• the amount of bio-based content in gasoline and diesel fuel used or sold in Ontario and,
• the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance of this bio-based content

These bio-based content requirements help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

As part of the GHG performance requirement, fuel suppliers must calculate the lifecycle GHG emissions intensity of the bio-based content in blended gasoline or blended diesel fuel. Lifecycle emissions are the cumulative emissions associated with creating and using a fuel, from extraction or cultivation to feedstock processing, fuel production, distribution and end-use combustion.

The Cleaner Transportation Fuels regulation allows for process and product innovations while encouraging fuels with the best environmental performance. The regulation also provides fuel suppliers with flexibility to diversify their product offerings in response to changing market conditions.

The regulation relies on the judgement of a professional engineer to ensure that all data used pursuant to the regulation are reasonable and that the calculations are correct.

For facilities that produce multiple products, the Ministry proposes that fuel suppliers shall use one of the methods set out below to calculate the GHG intensity of the fuel-grade bio-based content produced at that facility and first placed in the Ontario market. The methodology to be used shall be selected in accordance with the following rules:

1. A facility shall use Method 1 (Direct Measurement) where possible.
2. If Method 1 (Direct Measurement) cannot be used because direct bio-based fuel product-specific input data is not available, Method 2 (Output-Based Allocation) shall be used.
3. When Methods 1 or 2 cannot be used because the allocation of input data for the different products cannot be reasonably determined, then Method 3 (Facility Average) shall be used.

Method 1: Direct Measurement

Fuel suppliers shall calculate the GHG intensities on a quarterly basis for all fuel-grade bio-based content produced by the facility according to the energy used at a facility over the quarterly period. These calculations shall be based on direct measurements of all relevant inputs (e.g., natural gas or electricity usage).

Method 2: Output-based Allocation

Where direct measurements of inputs for fuel-grade products are not available, fuel suppliers shall use the following output-based allocation methodology:

1. Calculate the GHG intensities of the fuel-grade products and the non-fuel products as separate processes.
2. Document that the weighted average GHG intensity of all products is consistent with the total facility inputs.
3. Document what plant processes are excluded from fuel grade products and the rationale for exclusion.
4. Enter the prorated values for the bio-based content considered a fuel in Section 3.3 of the technical guideline.

Method 3: Facility Average

Where output-based allocations for bio-based content produced by the facility cannot be performed, fuel suppliers shall use the following facility average methodology:

A single GHG intensity value shall be allocated for all bio-based content produced by the facility, based on the weighted average of all feedstocks used at the facility over a quarterly or annual period.