Eleventh International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

In 2013, the Government of Quebec (Canada) set up a carbon market (QC ETS) under the Western Climate Initiative. All income from the sale of emission permits on this market is transferred to a Green Fund. This fund made it possible to finance the Program for the reduction and avoidance of greenhouse gases by the development of intermodal transportation (PREGTI). Despite the various strategies to promote the program, only 23% of the budget envelope ($33 million) was committed between 2013 and 2017. In addition, the low impact of funded initiatives in terms of GHG reduction has also been heavily criticized in the media. The objective of this article is to better understand the difficulties related to the financing and development of intermodal transport. It is based on 36 interviews conducted with key players in the Quebec maritime sector (ports, maritime industry, regional and local communities, and government). This study allowed us to identify 5 factors that could explain the difficulties related to the development of intermodality in Quebec: complexity in measuring GHG reductions, deficient application of the principle of additionality, uncertainty as to the viability and profitability of projects, difficulty in mobilizing stakeholders around a new paradigm of transportation, and, complexity of reporting mechanisms. This research has important managerial and political implications. In particular, it makes it possible to identify important parameters to be considered when developing GHG emission reduction programs in the field of intermodal transport.