Montréal, May 6, 2025 – During the Montréal Climate Summit, held today at the Grand Quay of the Port of Montréal, Benoît Robert, founder and president of Communauto, announced the launch of a major initiative aimed at permanently anchoring the company’s social, urban, and environmental mission.
This initiative lays the groundwork for establishing a structure that would ultimately allow for the transfer of part of the founder’s and leadership group’s shares to the community, thereby ensuring the organization’s mission continues beyond the tenure of its current leadership team.
A Mission to Promote and Protect
Founded in Québec City in 1994, Communauto is a pioneer in carsharing in North America. For over 30 years, the company has worked to transform mobility practices by offering a practical and affordable alternative to individual car ownership. With a presence in 20 cities across Canada and France, Communauto’s mission is to reduce car dependency, free up urban space, encourage more sustainable lifestyles, and maintain a financially viable business model that generates value.
But a central question now lies at the heart of the leadership team’s reflections: how can this unique approach be preserved when the time comes for them to step down? How can Communauto’s ownership remain in Canada and be protected from economic actors (automakers, traditional rental companies, investment firms) who, on several occasions, have shown little interest or ability in maintaining this type of mobility offering?
It is to address these issues that Communauto is taking the first steps in this ambitious project.
“Montréal Climate Summit reminds us of the urgency to act, but also of the need to permanently transform our economic models to meet environmental challenges. Carsharing is a powerful tool to reduce our carbon footprint, ease urban congestion, and improve quality of life. With this initiative, we want to ensure that Communauto’s mission—which is fundamentally in the public interest—can be protected and strengthened, even after the current team has passed the torch. This is a gesture of responsibility toward the community, and a structural response to the challenge of ensuring the long-term viability of sustainable mobility solutions,” said Benoît Robert, president and founder of Communauto.
A Promising Path: The Social Utility Trust
The social utility trust, or SUT is a legal vehicle that allows an asset to be dedicated to a specific purpose rather than to the benefit of an individual or organization, effectively enshrining that purpose in perpetuity. This model, which has been successfully used in various projects (particularly in heritage preservation), is among the most promising scenarios.
Incorporating a SUT into Communauto’s capital structure would allow:
- For a smooth transition of the current leadership team;
- For business decisions to remain aligned with the company’s social and environmental objectives over the long term;
- For the prevention of speculative drift or mission deviation, particularly in the context of investments or governance changes;
- For maintaining a crucial balance between ensuring the organization’s economic viability and productivity, while keeping its primary focus on maximizing positive collective impacts aligned with Communauto’s mission.
This initiative is part of a broader movement: the search for hybrid economic models capable of supporting strong social missions while aiming for high performance standards to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of their impact.
A Project in Its Early Stages, Driven by Strong Commitment
A rigorous preparatory process is already underway.
Three expert committees are about to be created to lay the foundation:
- A Scientific Committee tasked with identifying research needs and producing evidence-based data to guide future leadership decisions;
- A Finance Committee, which will explore funding mechanisms for the new structure and ways to support its long-term viability;
- A Governance Committee, which will guide the project team on best practices to ensure the initiative’s success and support its future development.
About Communauto
Communauto is Canada’s largest carsharing service and the oldest in North America. Operating across two continents in about twenty cities—including Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Québec, Halifax, and Paris—it offers both round-trip and free-floating services without the need for prior reservation. With more than 7,000 vehicles, Communauto has the largest fleet of shared electric vehicles in Canada and one of the largest in North America. As a company with a social, environmental, and urban focus, its mission is to reduce the impact of cars in cities while improving access to mobility by offering an alternative to private car ownership.
Information:
Marco Viviani
Vice President, Strategic Development
Communauto
drp@communauto.ca