Thank you very much.
My name is Andrew Noseworthy, and I am the assistant deputy minister responsible for clean technology and clean growth at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, or ISED.
My colleague, Kendal Hembroff, is here with me and will speak in a few moments about ISED's work to support clean technologies. In the meantime, I would like to give you a bit of background information on clean tech that may aid in our discussion today.
Statistics Canada has estimated that Canada's clean-technology sector grew by about 15% between 2012 and 2020, outpacing the overall Canadian economy, which grew by about 11% over the same period.
StatsCan further estimates that clean technology contributed about $26.8 billion to Canadian GDP in 2020 and provided over 200,000 well-paying jobs, with employment in clean tech growing by over 25% between 2012 and 2020.
While we're seeing clean technology develop into commercialization really right across the nation and in all elements of our economy, there are major concentrations of clean-tech companies in Ontario, B.C., Quebec and Alberta, and the vast majority of Canadian clean-tech companies, in fact over 90%, are small and medium-sized enterprises.
Canada has strength in a broad range of clean-tech areas, including clean energy and energy efficiency; hydrogen and low-emission transportation; batteries, smart grids and storage; carbon capture, utilization and storage; water and waste water; and agri-tech, to name just a few.
Canadian clean-tech companies are contributing to the decarbonization of both the Canadian and the global economies, and the vast majority of Canadian clean-tech firms are focused on exports.
Canadian exports of clean tech totalled approximately $7.1 billion in 2020, and our exports are expected to continue to grow as the global path towards a net-zero future is charted.
Indeed, Canada is already recognized globally as a leader in clean tech. Canada has always had a strong presence on the Global Cleantech 100 list, which tracks high-performing and high-opportunity clean-tech companies, and the 2022 list included 13 Canadian companies.
Among them are CarbonCure, a Halifax-based manufacturer for carbon utilization technologies for concrete, and GHGsat, a Montreal-based provider of satellite-based remote sensing technology for detecting greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities. Those are just two. Notably, all of the Canadian companies on the global list received support from the Government of Canada at some point in their development.
In that context, with your permission, I will now turn to my colleague, Kendal Hembroff, who will speak about ISED's specific efforts in supporting clean-technology businesses.