Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I appreciate the opportunity to appear today, and I'm pleased to be joining you from Waterloo, Ontario, traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples.
Green Economy Canada is a national non-profit that supports a network of green economy hubs in communities across the country. These hubs are engaging 300 businesses of all sectors and sizes to take action on climate change while increasing their profitability and overall competitiveness. Eighty-five per cent of the businesses engaged in our network are small and medium-sized enterprises, a segment of our economy that, as you know and others have said today, has been really hard hit by the impacts of COVID-19.
There has been a big spotlight on the importance of small businesses and what's needed to help them survive throughout this pandemic. The perspective that I'd like to share with you today is that we need to be thinking more broadly about supports for small business, specifically, how we are helping them to build back in a way that prepares them to thrive in a transition to a net-zero future.
We know that climate change poses significant threats to the business community and that globally there is a $26-trillion economic opportunity in making the shift to net zero. Overall, we're pleased to see that this budget makes significant investments to address climate change, with $17.6 billion allocated towards a green recovery. Investments will help to decarbonize heavy industry, spark green tech manufacturing, support agriculture and help thousands of households reduce their energy consumption. These investments are important and a step in the right direction to put us on a path to meeting our climate commitments, but they're insufficient to get us all the way there.
One notable gap in the budget was investments targeted at small businesses specifically to help them green their operations. SMEs make up more than 99% of businesses in Canada. They employ nine in 10 private sector workers and contribute more than half of our GDP. Yet, despite the vital role that small businesses play in job creation, innovation, and the vibrancy of our communities, they have been chronically overlooked in how they can help Canada achieve its climate action goals and how helping them to green their operations can boost their competitiveness.
The reality is that we can't have a strong economy without a strong small business community, and we won't have a strong and resilient small business community if we're not helping to prepare them for the needs and opportunities of a low-carbon future.
The budget included tax incentives for businesses generally to adopt clean tech and for small businesses that manufacture clean tech. These measures are welcome, but they will do little to benefit the majority of businesses in Canada that fall outside of heavy industry and clean-tech manufacturing to green their operations. Without dedicated investments to support small businesses to reduce their emissions, this critical segment of our economy risks getting left behind and will find it difficult to adapt to important regulations like the $170 per tonne carbon price by 2030.
Moreover, we know that reducing emissions often leads to business benefits like reduced operating costs, increased sales and an increased stability to attract and retain the next generation of employees who want to work for companies that are aligning profits and purpose.
Based on feedback from our network and our own experience with previous climate action programs, we urge the Government of Canada to invest directly in incentives and support programs that can help small businesses to reduce their emissions and build sustainability into their core way of operating. We hear time and time again that many small businesses are concerned about climate change and want to do their fair share, but they need more direct support to overcome the very real time, knowledge, and financial barriers they face to doing so.
The measures that can help include developing a small-business focused retrofit program to provide incentives that reduce the upfront capital costs of undertaking energy efficiency projects. These programs need to be well resourced and designed with small businesses in mind so that the application processes are simpler, the project thresholds are smaller, and the turnaround time to be told if they received funding is quicker.
To reduce the time and knowledge barriers small businesses face, we need to make it easier and more financially affordable for small businesses to access third-party support to help them figure out what short and long-term actions they should be taking. Our green economy hubs offer this kind of support to businesses, so we've seen first-hand what a big difference it can make to helping them undertake this sustainability work.
Lastly, investing in training and skills development for existing staff in small businesses to understand where their emissions come from and how to change their operating models to decouple growth from emissions will also be critical.
Small businesses don't have the in-house sustainability teams or specialized sustainability staff that larger organizations have and helping employees build their internal knowledge and skills for the green economy will be really important. I would be happy to speak further about any of these recommendations in the Q and A.
In closing, I want to applaud the federal government for its commitment to climate action and for making significant investments that can drive a green recovery. However, to ensure that our economy thrives in the transition to a net-zero future, we cannot forget to invest in small businesses to do their part. The support we provide to small businesses now will determine not just Canada's ability to meet our international commitments, but also, if we are successful, in setting the vast majority of businesses in Canada on a path to a stronger and more resilient future.
Thank you.