Hi.
First of all, thank you for allowing me to talk to you today.
As my colleagues have said, I welcome the land acknowledgement made by the first speaker.
I'm here speaking for The Transition Accelerator, which is a national not-for-profit. I describe it not as a “think” tank but as a “do” tank. We work practically with stakeholders in government and industry across the country to accelerate transition pathways towards net zero, particularly in the electricity system, the decarbonization of buildings, the decarbonization of the transport system, the development of the hydrogen economy and related areas. I'm also a professor in the school for public policy at Carleton University, specializing in long-term energy transitions and decarbonization.
Coming towards the end, I echo many of the comments made by the previous speakers. It's clear that we are in the midst of a global energy transition that has been gathering pace over the past couple of decades and will extend two, three, four and more decades into the future. It's a transition away from end-use fossil fuels, particularly in transport and buildings and in providing heat in industry.
Twenty years ago, you could be forgiven for thinking about the climate change issue as essentially an environmental issue—about preserving the climate and an environment that is conducive to human society, other species and so on. It's still an environmental issue, but today, from the point of view of a country like Canada, it's also an issue of industrial competitiveness and prosperity for the future generations of Canada.
All of our major competitors are heavily investing in the transformation of their energy systems, transport systems, electricity systems and industrial structure in order to move towards net-zero emissions around the turn of the century. Think about Germany, the U.K., France and of course the United States. Reference has already been made to the enormous investment that the U.S. is now undertaking under the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act. We're building a new energy economy. Prosperity and jobs over the next 20 to 30 years and beyond depend on whether Canada keeps pace and develops the new resources and economic investments that will allow us to prosper in a net-zero world.
One caution I would make is that we think about transitions as taking place very slowly. Actually, if you look at all of the big changes in technologies—the adoption of mobile telephones or moving from horse-drawn transport to the automobile—not much seems to change for multiple decades. Then you hit the upwards deep slope on the S-curve, and things change far more rapidly than people thought would happen.
Right now, decarbonization of electricity systems and uptake of electric vehicles are hitting that accelerated step, both in advanced countries and globally. For instance, IRENA, which is the International Renewable Energy Agency, had a report out yesterday that said the deployment of renewable energies over the past three years and the uptake of electric vehicles and batteries are now occurring so fast that it's meeting their projected model of achieving a 1.5-degree limit on global warming—that is to say, decarbonization—by mid-century. They are actually surprised this is happening.
Things look slow for a time, then speed up. Some of you may have seen this: On Sparks Street today, there is a show organized by Accelerate that has everything to do with electrification and hydrogen vehicles in Canada. Many promising models of where we're going to be moving, over the next few years, are there.
I would say that some companies and investments will survive and adapt in a net-zero world. Others that look very powerful and important today will be gone in 15 or 20 years. We need to ensure that the investments of the future are growing and that we don't cling to the economy of the past.
Thank you.