Good morning, everyone.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you very much for allowing me to be a witness on your panel today.
I am very happy to be representing Ballard Power Systems. Ballard is a Canadian company, based in British Columbia. Today, globally, we employ over 950 people, with more than 760 in Canada. We have been developing fuel cell technology for the past 40 years, and we put on the road the first-ever fuel cell buses in Vancouver in the late 1990s. Today we export almost 100% of our production, and last year we produced over 100 megawatts of fuel cell products.
The hydrogen strategy, which was published in 2020 by NRCan, highlighted the critical role of hydrogen in the decarbonization of the Canadian economy in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, especially for the hard-to-abate sectors like heavy-duty transportation. This has been highlighted by previous speakers.
Fuel cell electric buses, trucks, trains and ships benefit from the high energy density of hydrogen as a fuel to match the performance of diesel vehicles, but with zero emission and without any compromise in operation, enabling long-range operation in harsh climates like we have in Canada.
The use of green hydrogen produced from renewable energy, as recently announced by some projects in Quebec, will reduce GHG emissions by 89% for heavy-duty trucks, compared to the diesel equivalent. Such a reduction can also be achieved by using blue hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration.
As an example, a transit bus using such low-carbon blue hydrogen in Alberta will reduce its GHG emissions by 83%, compared to a diesel bus. To compare, a battery electric bus will only reduce emissions by 50% in Alberta due to the higher carbon intensity of the electric grid.
The use of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel is also an economic opportunity for Canada. With a unique, strong and world-leading hydrogen and fuel cell industry, Canada is very well positioned to benefit from this transition.
At Ballard alone, we have created over 200 high-paying jobs in the past two years. According to the NRCan hydrogen strategy document, up to 350,000 jobs can be created in Canada with the growth of the hydrogen economy in the next three decades.
We believe now is the time to act and the time to start. Supporting the production of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel in Canada with regulations such as clean fuel standards and providing financial incentives for vehicle operators will accelerate the adoption of zero-emission fuel cell vehicles such as transit buses and trucks. We are demonstrating these vehicles now in Alberta with the 60-tonne fuel cell truck, as part of the AZETEC project, or in trains, as was recently announced by CP Rail, which has its first freight locomotive using hydrogen as a fuel. All those vehicles disproportionally contribute the most to GHG emissions, compared to other modes of transportation.
Thank you very much.