Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CGA is the voice of Canada's natural gas delivery industry. Our utilities deliver service to over 20 million of your constituents in homes, businesses and industries through over 570,000 kilometres of energy infrastructure. In 2018 natural gas met 35% of Canada's energy needs. The Canada Energy Regulator forecasts that number will grow to 40% in the next 15 years, almost twice the end use of electricity.
Our utilities are active in communities providing an essential service, but also, through their employees and those of our manufacturer and supplier members, we are helping Canadians live through and plan a recovery from COVID-19. It's been all hands on deck for our members during these challenging times. Our industry's detailed pandemic planning processes, developed over decades, have been leveraged to full effect.
As essential service providers, front-line utility workers have been ensuring uninterrupted energy delivery for Canadians. These are unprecedented circumstances, but there's uninterrupted service. To paraphrase how one utility staff person put it to me, our people rise to the occasion in difficult times because our customers need us. For those customers, utilities have instituted bill deferment programs, stopped disconnects and increased social media and other communications to stay as engaged as possible.
All our companies have instituted work from home protocols. Front-line workers are equipped with necessary PPE and are well trained on specific safety practices.
Energy use traditionally declines after the winter, and this year has been no different, although the industrial decline has been more noticeable. Overall the fact remains that Canadians need affordable, reliable energy, irrespective of circumstances, and we've been providing it. We're working closely with government officials, particularly those at NRCan, Public Safety Canada and Measurement Canada, on various issues that have arisen. I should note how admirably committed those officials have been to their public service duties.
However, we're deeply concerned about the long-term economic picture. As an industry, we're focused on how we can help improve it. Safety is always our first priority. We bring our safety-first culture to how we think about getting the Canadian economy up quickly and reliably. We have a great deal of project work that can advance as lockdowns lift, and we know this will be a real economic stimulus. Direct and indirect spending is in the billions, and we want to proceed.
In response to a request from government, we submitted a list of shovel-ready projects. We are encouraged to note as part of that list those projects that would help deliver on aggressive emission-reduction targets set by government for 2030 and 2050 goals and aspirations. All of our projects contribute to the more effective delivery of clean and affordable natural gas, but in response to the request, we also included projects that would help deliver on these more aggressive targets. Those are more costly than our conventional work and would require stimulus assistance. The total list is 93 projects representing $12 billion in spending with an overall ratio of industry to government spending of 5:1.
An overview of the projects is included in the map attached to the package sent to you. They fall into four buckets: renewable gas and hydrogen, green retrofit projects, alternative transportation fuels, and infrastructure and LNG projects.
Our analysis of the emissions not produced because of the projects is under way, but the 39 we've reviewed so far represent an estimated five megatonnes of CO2 reductions. That number will grow as we complete the analysis.
While those projects focused on more aggressive emission reductions require matching dollars, the majority require no funding but do need regulatory approval at the federal level. Anything to expedite that would be a low-cost action by government to drive economic recovery. We cannot emphasize strongly enough how such action to clear the path for project advancement will be helpful.
As we look forward, apart from the specific asks, we want to work co-operatively with government on a strategy with three broad components: first, to develop a team Canada approach with the natural gas delivery industry; second, to support renewable gases to position Canada on the global stage; and third, to leverage Canada's natural gas clean-tech advantage.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, Canadians have been using gaseous energy for the entirety of our country's history, and in some regions longer still. Our industry has stood with its customers through wars, depressions, pandemics, floods, fires and more. Through each, we've delivered, we've adapted and we've grown stronger. Our hope is to do the same again through COVID-19.
Our fuels and our infrastructure are foundational to our country's well-being, guaranteeing the affordable, reliable, clean energy delivery that has allowed Canada to thrive. We're determined to continue to contribute, and look forward to working with parliamentarians and all others in facing this challenge.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.