Joint Clean Climate Transport Research Partnership (JCCTRP)

Welcome

The Joint Clean Climate Transport Research Partnership (JCCTRP) is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research partnership focusing on issues related to transport and climate policy in Quebec, California, Ontario and New England.

  • Partner organizations include leading universities, private research institutions, businesses and non-profit organizations in Quebec, California, Ontario and New England.
  • In 2018 the JCCTRP was recipient of a prestigious Partnership Development Grant by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
  • Efforts are continuously being made to identify new funding resources to extend and expand the JCCTRP. The JCCTRP is designed to include other partners, sectors and jurisdictions moving forward.
  • The Administrative Secretariat of the JCCTRP is housed at the École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG-UQÀM).

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About the JCCTRP

Why the JCCTRP

There is growing interest in carbon pricing as a policy tool to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change—including carbon markets and carbon taxes—as well as their links with other regulatory efforts for climate change mitigation. In North America, Quebec, California and, until recently, Ontario have played a leading role in climate policy through an emissions trading system operating under the aegis of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). At the same time, the Canadian federal government has made carbon pricing a cornerstone of its climate action plan, which will have a significant impact on provincial climate policies undertaken to date. Similarly, states in the northeastern United States, including Vermont, have established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Despite the importance of carbon pricing as a policy instrument for combating emissions, it is not the only instrument for reducing emissions. And among the sources of emissions in both Canada and the United States, the transportation sector is the largest and has proven amongst the most difficult to address. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research collaborations across jurisdictions involved in carbon pricing—particularly those linked by emissions trading systems—promises to shed light on many questions facing governments, business and other policy actors in the jurisdictions involved.

A coordinated, integrative research effort that explores the various technical, economic and political dimensions of efforts to reduce emissions in the transport sector, in Quebec, California, Ontario and Vermont is timely and important for three reasons. First, there is increasing interest in carbon pricing in North America, including greater scrutiny of carbon markets, while also potential interest of linking WCI and RGGI together in addition to linking to other emissions trading systems elsewhere in the world. Second, despite the importance of carbon pricing as a policy instrument for tackling emissions, it is not the only nor necessarily the most effective instrument to reduce emissions in the transport sector. Indeed, California and Quebec expect most of the emission reductions in the transport sector to be accomplished through policies such as improved vehicle efficiency measures, broader efforts to transition to low-carbon energy sources, and expanded provision of public transport services. Yet there are concerns that regulatory approaches might prove ineffective and complicate carbon market linkages.  Third, the JCCTRP will work to transcend existing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research barriers in order to generate robust, policy-relevant knowledge and understanding about climate and transport policy across the four jurisdictions.

Governance

The JCCTRP is governed by an Executive Committee which is supported in its work through a dedicated Administrative Secretariat comprised of three partner organizations: ESG-UQÀM, CÉRIUM and HEC Montreal. The Executive Committee consists of the JCCTRP Director, who will act as Chair of the Executive Committee, and representatives from four other groups (i) Quebec Academic, (ii) California Academic, (iii) Ontario-Vermont Academic, and (iv) Practitioners Association. The Executive Committee will provide overarching strategic direction and oversight to the JCCTRP. It will also guide partnership activities, mentorship, and training of graduate students, as well as knowledge mobilization. It will meet twice a year, including a meeting during the annual JCCTRP workshop. In addition, each Working Group will elect a chair for a one-year term, whose responsibility will be to work with the Administrative Secretariat to report on working group deliberations.

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Research Objectives

Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of the JCCTRP is to identify technical, economic and political factors shaping the potential for effective, cost-efficient, and politically viable low-carbon transport and climate policy in each jurisdiction, and understand their implications for emissions trading. This goal is supported by three specific Research Objectives:

Research Objective #1 – Characterize Existing Approaches to the Economic and Political Analysis of Low-Carbon Transport and Climate Change Mitigation Policy

The first research objective is to improve mutual understanding amongst economists, policy experts and practitioners by more deeply characterizing existing approaches to the study of transport and climate policy. This will be tackled over an initial six-month period starting in June 2018 and concluding with a “Phase 1b” workshop at UC Davis in January/February 2019. This research objective was also the focus of a preliminary “Phase 1a” workshop of the JCCTRP in November 2017.

Research Objective #2 – Joint Development of Modeling Scenarios for Low-Carbon Transport and Climate Change Mitigation Policy and Preliminary Analysis

As a second research objective, the JCCTRP will develop a plan for modeling carefully selected scenarios for reducing emissions in the transport sector drawing on information from existing model scenario runs and qualitative research results. This will be addressed over a one-year period beginning in January 2019 with results to be presented at a Phase 2 workshop in Toronto in January 2020.

Research Objective #3 – Road-Map to Address Technical, Economic and Political Dimensions of Low-Carbon Transport and Climate Change Mitigation Policy and Their Implications for Emissions Trading

A final research objective is to synthesize findings from RO#2 into a “road-map” to address technical, economic and political dimensions of low-carbon transport and climate change mitigation policy, and their implications for emissions trading.

Expected Outcomes

  1. Strengthen interdisciplinary academic research in Quebec, Ontario, California and Vermont on transport and climate policy through working papers, academic workshops and peer-review publications.
  2. Train graduate students in all four jurisdictions on issues of low-carbon transport and climate policy through active collaboration with leading experts.
  3. Strengthen transdisciplinary research collaborations between academic researchers and practitioners through the publication of policy briefs, JCCTRP website and quarterly newsletter
  4. Mobilize knowledge and engage the public on the social, economic and political dimensions of efforts to reduce emissions in the transport sector and links with carbon pricing through the public seminars, media outreach in addition to the JCCTRP website and newsletter.

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Events

Webinars

► Comparison of the Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations with Fuel Carbon Intensity Standards in California, Oregon and British Columbia

Thursday 3 November 2022

Click here to view the video recording (in English)

► Seminar: Advancing Climate and Transportation Policy Research in Canada and the US

Monday 19 September 2022

Click here to view the video recording (in English)

► The New Federal 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: What Implications for the Transport Sector?

Thursday 21 April, 2022

  • Speakers:
  • Chair:
  • Summary: Released in March, the Canadian federal government’s new 2030 Emissions Reduction 2030 outlines the approach to be taken in each sector to ensure that Canada meets its new climate target of reducing emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030 and is on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The recent release of the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan motivated the Chair in Decarbonisation to invite experts from the transportation sector to discuss the implications of the Plan for decarbonization of the sector. The transportation sector is the second most polluting sector in Canada, after the oil and gas industry.

Click here to view the video recording (in French)

► Comparing Low-Carbon Urban Transport Policy in Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles: Preliminary Findings

Thursday 8 July, 2021

Click here to view the PDF presentation (in English)

► Comparison of the Proposed Canadian Clean Fuel Standard with Low-Carbon Fuel Standards in California and other jurisdictions: Preliminary Findings

Thursday 29 April, 2021

Click here to view the PDF presentation (in English)

*Minor modifications to the Powerpoint presentation have been made subsequent to initial presentation. Please note modifications to the following slides: 4, 5, 10, 22, 26, 27, 30 and 34. The updated slides are found in the final version of the Powerpoint presentation dated 12 May 2021 and available as a PDF document through the link above.

► Modeling Low-Carbon Urban Transportation in Toronto

Thursday 11 February, 2021

Click here to view the PDF presentation (in English)

Workshops and Conferences

The JCCTRP’s activites for 2020 were upset by COVID-19, as has been the case for many research efforts. A JCCTRP Symposium planned for June 2020 had to be cancelled with funding shifted to an online webinar series, which is now ongoing. Please access the video webinars on their own separate webpage. Information on past workshops and conferences of the JCCTRP can be found below. 

Past events

► Montreal Workshop and Public Seminar, September 19, 2022

Click here to view the video recording of the Seminar (in English)

► American Political Science Association 2020 Annual Meeting – Seattle, September 2021

► Toronto Workshop and Public Seminar, November 2019

JCCTRP partners hosted an inter-jurisdictional workshop in fall 2019 in Toronto as a mid-term review of Phase 2 research activities. The workshop was held on November 5 in at the offices of the Plug’N Drive Electric Vehicle Discovery Center. A public seminar was held at the Helliwell Centre at Osgoode Law School on November 6.

► Improving Quebec Stakeholder Engagement in the Transition to Low-Carbon Transport – Montreal, May 2019

This workshop sought to cultivate better engagement between researchers and other Quebec stakeholders—including the private sector, civil society, and municipalities—who are involved in the transition to low-carbon transport in Quebec, California, and other progressive jurisdictions. It didso by providing an update about the work of the JCCTRP and offering an opportunity to explore research partnership opportunities between jurisdictions. The workshop was held at the offices of IQCarbone in downtown Montreal on May 29, 2019. 

► International Studies Association 2019 Annual Convention – Toronto, March 2019

Preliminary results of the JCCTRP were presented in a paper entitled Transnational Climate Policy Learning, Coordination and Convergence: emissions trading and the transport sector in California, Quebec and Ontario for a session of the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention. The paper was presented in a session on Regional and Comparative Environmental Politics.

► California Workshop of the JCCTRP & CCPM – UC Davis, February 2019

The JCCTRP hosted its second workshop at the UC Davis on February 27-28 in conjunction with the California Climate Policy Modeling (CCPM) forum. The two-day event involved a series of workshops at UC Davis followed by a public seminar in Sacramento. 

► UNFCCC 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) – Katowice, December 2018

The JCCTRP was presented at an official side-event at COP24 entitled Transnational Transportation Policy Collaboration in North America & Europe. The event, which is co-organized by the Georgetown Climate Centre and IQCarbone, brought together state and non-state actors collaborating to reduce transport emissions at the subnational and international scales. 

► Global Climate Action Summit – San Francisco, September 2018

In September 2018, the JCCTRP participated in an official affiliate event organized by UC Davis at the Global Climate Action Summit (GACS) in San Francisco. In particular, the JCCTRP was presented at a session entitled Regional Transportation Policy Collaboration which drew on other UC Davis collaborations, including with Pacific Coast Collaborative jurisdictions, the International EV Policy Council and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative.

► Initial JCCTPR Workshop – Montreal, November 2017

With the generous support of the US Consulate in Montreal, Institut de l’Énergie Trottier and the Institut québécois du Carbone (IQCarbone), an initial two-day workshop of the JCCTRP was held in Montreal in November 2017. It sought to characterize existing approaches to the economic and political analysis of low-carbon transport and climate change mitigation policy. The JCCTRP workshop included a public seminar—which can be viewed on YouTube—and also led to the publication of three policy briefs on climate and transport policy in Quebec, California and Ontario.

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Publications

Working Papers

► Comparison of the Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations with Fuel Carbon Intensity Standards in California, Oregon and British Columbia (2022)

  • Authors: Julie Witcover (UC Davis), Mark Purdon (UQAM), Colin Murphy (UC Davis), Melissa Cusack Striepe (UToronto), Heather L. MacLean (UToronto) and Lew Fulton (UC Davis)
  • Publication Date: October 2022

Abstract: Written as part of the Joint Clean Climate Transport Research Partnership (JCCTRP), this report compares the Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) with similar instruments that have been developed in British Columbia, Oregon and California. The report describes the instruments in detail to highlight their similarities and differences. Aspects of the standards compared include program objectives and mandated carbon intensity (CI) reduction trajectories, scope of regulated fossil fuels and firms, life cycle assessment (LCA) methods for assigning CI ratings to fuels and associated credit-generating protocols, the credit market and related compliance mechanisms, as well as governance and administrative issues. We also briefly address key topics associated with harmonization and linkage of programs, before concluding. Overall, broad compatibilities in program design may work to incentivize a larger pool of lower carbon fuels, even though jurisdictions maysometimes compete for existing fuels. At the same time, differences in program design, trajectory, policy environment, and implementation might complicate any initiative to combine programs into a single low-carbon fuel standard in North America. Jurisdictions who have taken the lead on establishing North American fuel CI standards have rightfully focused on harmonizing standards, and should do so to the extent possible while recognizing regional differences. However, a common North American clean fuel credit market appears unlikely, and perhaps unnecessary, in the near- to mid-term.

► Regional Planning and Climate Change Mitigation in California (2020)

  • Authors: Genevieve Giuliano, Sang-O Kim and Zakhary Mallet
  • Author Affiliation: METRANS Transportation Center & University of Southern California
  • Publication Date: May 2020

Abstract: This working paper presents an overview of regional planning and climate change mitigation in California. This paper is motivated by the unique success of California in developing and implementing a comprehensive program of policies to address global climate change. It traces the history of environmental regulation in California and shows how climate change policy is the outgrowth of decades of increasingly stringent and broad environmental policy. This paper is also motivated by JCCTRP’s interest in the role of models. It shows how regional transportation modeling plays a critical role in meeting air pollution reduction targets, and how models can be used to achieve plans that meet the targets. The paper first presents the history of air quality regulation with focus on mobile sources. This is followed by a description of how air quality regulations have transitioned into more comprehensive greenhouse gas regulations in the 2000s with the introduction of Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as “AB32”. The final section describes how federal and state regulation have affected regional transportation planning and discusses the role of models in the planning process. The paper closes with conclusions and some observations on what can be learned from California.

► Modeling Increased Electric Vehicle Charging Demand in Quebec (2019)

  • Authors: Samuel Forget Lord (IQCarbone), Jonathan Dowds (University of Vermont), Mark Purdon (UQAM/IQCarbone), Olivier Bahn, (GERAD & HEC Montreal) and Lisa Aultman-Hall (University of Vermont)
  • Publication Date: December 2019

Abstract: The interactions between electric vehicle charging and renewable power generation are an important consideration for any jurisdiction seeking to use increased electric vehicle penetration as strategy to reduce greenhouse (GHG) emission in the transportation sector. This paper describes a model for developing highly-resolved, time-of-day specific charging demand from travel survey data that is consistent with real-world driving patterns and applied to Quebec. Since vehicle charging timing is dependent on electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) availability, three EVSE scenarios are considered: 1) home-only, 2) home and workplace only, 3) universal EVSE. The modeling described here provides a valuable approach for understanding the interactions between power grid operation and demand profiles while exploring a range of assumptions about EVSE availability and charging behaviors. All EVSE scenarios result in increased peak demand that could decrease electricity net export and then, contribute to an increase of generation by non-renewable generating sources. This indicates that pricing or other mechanisms that influence charging decisions could result in lower cost and lower emissions outcomes. Results are discussed in light of the renewable energy resources available in Quebec and emerging low-carbon transportation policies.

► Climate and Transportation Policy Sequencing in California and Quebec (2019)

  • Authors: Mark Purdon (ESG-UQAM), Genevieve Giuliano (USC), Julie Witcover (UC Davis), Colin Murphy (UC Davis), Sonya Ziaja (CPUC), Colleen Kaiser (York U), Mark Winfield (York U), Charles Séguin (ESG-UQAM), Jacques Papy (UQAM), Sang-O Kim (USC), Louis-Charles Coderre (UMontréal), Myriam Goulet (UQAM), and Lew Fulton (UC Davis)
  • Publication Date: October 2019

Abstract: In this working paper we discuss the California-Quebec emissions trading system and its relationship with so-called “complementary policies” in the transportation sector. Quebec remains, after the brief involvement of the province of Ontario in 2018, the sole jurisdiction linked to California through an emissions trading system. But questions remain whether the complexities of California’s climate policies might limit their effective replication elsewhere. The challenge is that striving for efficient and flexible regulations that account for policy interaction and sequencing requires significant technical resources, as governments often take on a larger role in designing policy components for specific sectors of the economy. While outstanding challenges remain in the transport sector in both jurisdictions, we find that many of the policies observed in California’s transportation sector have been adopted by the Quebec and Canadian federal government in a manner that alleviates some concerns about replicability. The sequence by which so-called complementary transport policies have been introduced is also more complex than reported in other studies. At the Quebec and the Canadian federal government, low-carbon transport policies have both preceded and succeeded efforts to put an economy-wide price on GHG emissions. These findings point to the possibility of replicating California’s suite of climate policies in a sequential manner that generates political benefits in terms of reduced and distributed costs while alleviating concerns about free-ridership. We conclude with a discussion about coordinating emissions trading and complementary policies amongst linked jurisdictions. 

► Overview of Climate, Energy and Transport Policy in Quebec (2019)

  • Authors: Louis-Charles Coderre (UMontréal), Myriam Goulet (UQAM) and Mark Purdon (UQAM)
  • Publication Date: June 2019

Abstract: This working paper presents an overview of Quebec energy, transportation and climate change mitigation policies. Special attention is given to institutional frameworks and key government actors at different levels of government. This includes a review of major policies of the Canadian federal and provincial governments as well as that of the City of Montreal, the largest urban agglomeration in the province. The overview illustrates the complex interactions between institutions and policy actors in Quebec, Canada as well as North America. We also review greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and assess progress at different governance scales. This includes assessment of the current state of measures adopted or planned by policy actors at various scales as well as the investments considered, in particular concerning carbon pricing and regulations, the electrification of transport and investments in infrastructure and public transport. This working paper also reviews transport and energy system modeling efforts and the importance of models in the policy process. A special focus is given to Quebec’s role as a major producer of clean energy in the northeastern part of North America, where Hydro-Québec has long been a supplier of hydroelectricity.

 ► Decarbonizing Road Transportation in Ontario (2018)

  • Author: Colleen Kaiser, PhD candidate at York University (Ontario)
  • Publication Date: November 2018

Abstract: This working paper on private road transport uses two broad categories to organize decarbonization efforts in the province of Ontario: 1) cleaner vehicles and 2) transportation demand management. These categories represent the two key objectives of policies and mechanisms to develop a low-carbon transport system. 1) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars, and 2) reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Establishing an economy-wide carbon price supports these specific efforts.

Policy Briefs

► JCCTRP Initial Policy Briefs (2018)

Abstract: An initial workshop of the JCCTRP held in Montreal in November 2017 led to the publication in February 2018 of three policy briefs on climate and transport policy for Quebec, California and Ontario. Each policy brief summarized workshop deliberations on modeling practices and the decision-making process relevant to each jurisdictions transport, climate and energy sectors.

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Contact

  • Chair in Decarbonization – ESG-UQAM
  • Chairholder: Mark Purdon, Professor in the Department of Strategy, Social and Environmental Responsibility
  • Telephone: 514-987-3000 poste 2594
  • Email: decarbonisation@uqam.ca

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