In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals (2010), a Preliminary Scan was conducted for this Proposal.
The Toyota RAV Forward Project is a Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) project that will see Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) invest $1.4 billion to replace Corolla production volume with next generation RAV4 and RAV4 hybrid production. As part of the project, TMMC's North and West plants will undergo a major platform upgrade to the Toyota Next Generation Architecture (TGNA), which will enable the manufacturing of more than 10 models within the Toyota and Lexus brands on the same production line.
The Preliminary Scan indicated that the proposal is unlikely to result in negative or important environmental effects because the project does not have an adverse impact on land, air, or water. By contrast, the project may have positive direct and indirect impacts on air as a result of modernization of manufacturing processes and production of new lighter weight RAV4 base and hybrid models that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions by 20% and 10% respectively. These emission reductions are part of TMMC's environmental policy and Toyota Motor Corporation's (TMC) global commitment to moving to full vehicle electrification of all of its fleet by 2050. GHG reduction also forms part of TMC's Environmental Challenge 2050, which hopes to reduce TMC's new vehicle CO2 emissions by 90% of 2010 levels by 2050. Some of the innovations to be developed under the project include: Green manufacturing technologies that will reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions up to 10% in select shops; installing a solar wall designed to support HVAC systems in the North plant; adopting HFO-1234yf refrigerant within completed vehicles for air conditioning (current refrigerant has a Global Warming Potential score of 1430; the new refrigerant has a score of 4). Additionally, the project is located on a previously developed urban site owned by the company (expansion of plant's current footprint) that already has services and is not located near waterways.
The proposed project is aligned with and advances the goals and targets of the 2016-2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, most notably:
Effective action on climate change
A low-carbon economy contributes to limiting global average temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius and supports efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Target: By 2030, reduce Canada's total GHG emissions by 30%, relative to 2005 emission levels.