In Canada we have more than 25 million vehicles on the road. About a million, or just 4 per cent, are medium- and heavy-duty trucks, including those that transport and deliver goods across the country and to your door. But when it comes to climate change, they have an outsized impact.

While passenger cars represent 90 per cent of vehicles on the road, they only account for about 50 per cent of Canada’s total carbon pollution coming from transportation. Almost as much, nearly 40 per cent, comes from those one million trucks.

The Pembina Institute has been doing important work to find short-term opportunities to reduce pollution from on-road freight, while acknowledging that ultimately we need to drive it to zero — and that requires zero-emission trucks. The trouble is, there aren’t many of them on the road in North America.