Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Ollie Sheldrick, and I am the program manager for our clean economy work at Clean Energy Canada, a climate and clean energy think tank at Simon Fraser University. I am based in Toronto, Ontario.
I'll be speaking today on how Canada can position itself to innovate and invest in the clean technologies required to reach its net-zero goals, and in turn position itself as a global exporter of the materials and products that will fuel the global clean transition.
Modelling done by Clean Energy Canada has found that between 2030 and 2050, jobs in Canada’s clean energy sector are projected to grow by almost 50%. By 2030, Canada’s EV battery supply chain could support nearly 250,000 direct and indirect jobs and add $48 billion to the Canadian economy. Fully implementing green procurement policies, or “buy clean”, in Canada could unlock up to 14 million tonnes of direct and indirect emissions reductions and support a growing green building materials sector that could reach $50 billion by 2030.
However, Canada faces three challenges in order to achieve this: first, to support the existing clean-tech industry by scaling the market for current technologies; second, to invest in innovation to ready the next generation of solutions; and third, to ensure that Canada capitalizes on its competitive advantages.
In order to address the first challenge, Canada must increase its focus on driving market demand. The government can play its part here through clean procurement practices, or “buy clean”, as one of the largest customers for products such as construction materials—for example, buying over one-third of all of the steel in Canada every year. The government has a strong influence and can spur widespread adoption and increased demand for low-carbon products. Due to our low-emissions electricity grid, many Canadian-made products are already lower carbon than our international alternatives. The government is moving on this, but our ambition and pace must be increased.
For future clean technologies that will drive our near-zero economy, we must continue to invest in projects that demonstrate what's possible. The International Energy Agency has found that while we have the technology to get the emissions reductions by 2030, to get to our 2050 goals almost half those reductions need to come from technologies that are currently at the demonstration or prototype phase.
Canada has the potential to be a green-energy and green-technology superpower. We have one of the lowest-emissions grids in the world—it is 83% clean—along with abundant natural resources and critical minerals, vast freshwater reserves and geology for carbon sequestration, and a highly skilled workforce. These are the ingredients for cornerstone clean technologies such as green hydrogen, batteries and CCUS. We must harness these opportunities in the following ways: first, by building a market for low-carbon goods in Canada to support domestic producers and reduce emissions; second, by continuing to fund innovation, and third, by building up Canada's competitive advantage as the first choice for clean-tech development.
With these actions, Canada can seize the opportunity of the clean economy and meet our net-zero 2050 goals.