Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to my colleagues for their speeches.
I want to get some things on the record with respect to the net-zero accelerator fund. While I totally appreciate the desire for more information, I want to put in context some of these investments and what they mean for our region in southwestern Ontario, as well as for Sault Ste. Marie, in the context of Algoma Steel.
The members continually suggested that there were no earmarked emissions reductions attached to these investments, which is simply not true. For the Dofasco project on its own $400 million was announced, which will help cut carbon emissions from steel production at that facility in Hamilton by more than half. Their emissions will be reduced by 60%. This has been widely reported on. I'm not looking at a government document; it's just all of the news that came out on that great day three years ago when we were able to announce that by 2028 steel production in Hamilton wouldn't be as dirty as it always has been.
I used to work in steel in Hamilton, and it's a pretty dirty job, I have to say. My job was sweeping the floor and grinding the rust off steel that was stored outside. It's a dirty job but it doesn't have to be that dirty. It certainly doesn't have to pollute as much as it does.
The CEO of ArcelorMittal said the company was proud of the government for stepping up and that this investment would contribute to a 60% reduction in their emissions. Their emissions are very high. Both that plant and the one in Sault Ste. Marie will lower emissions by six million tonnes a year. That's really significant. Six million tonnes a year is six megatonnes. That would get us pretty close to under 700 megatonnes, which is one of those targets.
I also heard repeatedly that we're not on track to meet our emissions targets, but that's not true either. We are on track to meet our 2026 target, which is really great news.
Taking the report at face value is important, and one of the findings was that by 2026 we'll be right on target. We need to take further steps in order to reach our 2030 targets.
Let's go back to six million tonnes a year in emissions reductions. That's just carbon emissions, by the way. There's a lot of other stuff that goes into the air when we use coal to produce steel. It's going to mean a healthier environment. It's going to mean lower emissions. It's going to mean fewer upper respiratory tract infections. It's going to mean less respiratory distress in the summer.
It's the equivalent of taking 1.8 million vehicles off road. That's almost the number of passenger vehicles in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver combined. That's remarkable. That's remarkable progress, and that's the power of investing in technology with these companies.
Using technology is one of the ways of making sure we reduce our emissions. That annual reduction of three million tonnes accounts for 30% of Hamilton's entire emissions reductions. It's 30% of their emissions total. They currently emit 11 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, and Dofasco contributes almost half, 4.8 tonnes. It says 4.8 tonnes, but I'm going to presume that maybe it means 4.8 million. It might be a typo. I'm just reading from the article.