Hello. Thank you for having me here.
My Canada tri-council-funded research focuses on renewable energy transitions for communities in Canada and on nearly every continent. Canada can reach its 2030 targets to uphold its pledge made to the UNFCCC, which are only eight years away, if we follow the evidence on our fastest, cheapest options that also improve social and economic benefits in a socially and economically just manner.
Critical and technologically viable options for decarbonization include electrification of transportation, deep energy retrofits to buildings, the rapid introduction of heat pumps and the rapid scale-up of waste heat capture for heating and cooling processes in cities and industrial districts. To do this, we need to quickly scale up renewable electricity generation and new distribution and transmission technology to get this renewable electricity to where it's needed.
Peer-reviewed research shows that over at least 50 years, public and private sector funding for research, development and deployment for nuclear and fossil fuels has been orders of magnitude more than funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency in Canada. If we spent on renewables the way we spend on these, we could direct financial, regulatory, knowledge and administrative resources toward our best possible pathway of meeting both the 2030 and the 2050 targets.
A dramatic increase of renewable energy is possible as there have been technological advances. For example, renewable energy has become the cheapest option on the market, including compared to coal. Combining renewables and adding flexibility, like load balancing and demand response, can reduce the cost of storage.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Energy Agency's energy technology guide, there are at least 38 technologies, including a range of renewable energy technologies, that are market-ready and could be scaled immediately with the right supports. According to my own research, Canada is not supporting these proven technologies to the extent needed to reach our climate goals.
Supports for renewable energy and reducing energy demand should focus on increasing the supply of renewable energy as a critical opportunity for local economic development and socio-economic benefits for rural and indigenous communities that can develop renewable energy to export out of our regions and into cities to support the rapid uptake of electric vehicles and heat pumps; addressing the electricity grid and developing and implementing innovations that reduce the congestion of energy demand in cities; research and development of new materials and innovations to address the supply of critical rare earth magnets and minerals; and removing regulatory barriers and improving the economic, regulatory and administrative supports to improve the utilization of these innovations.
Thank you.