The clean-tech sector is one identified globally as having enormous potential.  By 2020, it is estimated that the sector will be worth $3 trillion to the world economy.

Certainly, investments in the U.S. have been outpacing Canada. U.S. President Barack Obama’s new tone of resolve in addressing the climate crisis suggests that their previous level of support will be ramping up.  President Obama highlighted the potential of clean-tech to stimulate the economy and create jobs in his inauguration address:

We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries; we must claim its promise.

At the moment, Canada has only one percent of the sector’s current $1 trillion global value.  Still, that relatively small piece of the pie is responsible for 52,600 Canadian jobs in 700 clean-tech companies.  The sector was worth over $10 billion last year, and that was a jump of 18% over the previous year.

In Parliament, I work with a new all-party clean-tech caucus, chaired by Conservative MP Jay Aspin.  We have engaged MPs across party lines in the exciting potential for innovation in clean-tech.  The sector is making gains in improving the energy efficiency of the mining sector, reducing waste water in the oil sands, cutting deeply into the price differential between renewable and coal to the point that some new wind and solar out-performs coal in terms of price.

A recent report by the Pembina Institute, (Competing in Clean energy: How Canada can capitalize on the global transition to clean energy, January 22, 2013), based on a forensic review of the sector and extensive interviews, concluded that Canada could expand our clean-tech sector to $60 billion by 2020. That realistic assessment needs to be underscored.  We have the potential for six-fold growth over the next seven years.

Vancouver Island Technology Park has been an incubator for new clean-tech firms.  There are companies working in bio-fuels, wind energy and tidal power.  As well, outside of the Vancouver Island Technology Park, the Saanich Peninsula has a number of firms working in the clean-tech sector. Everything from Triton Logging, accessing sustainable hardwood from tropical hydro-electric sites, to Aeolis Wind, and a number of environmental consulting companies, including over 300 people working at Stantec. Our area benefits from jobs in clean-tech.

To reach its full potential, we need provincial and federal policies to align.  It is excellent to know we can produce power from tidal action, but it would certainly help the start-up companies if they could access a “feed-in” tariff and sell into the grid.  The federal government needs to continue its support of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).  Founded in 2001, SDTC has successfully completed 19 rounds of funding approvals.  Over $500 million has been allocated to 228 projects.   That level of investment has resulted in a highly successful track record in leveraging funds from other project partners.  The ratio is 2.4:1, with $1.4 billion leveraged from $560 million.

Amazingly, of a 14 person national board two of the board members are prominent local residents. The Chair of the Board is Juergen Puetter of Aeolis Wind. And former Saanich-Gulf Islands Member of Parliament, Gary Lunn, was recently appointed to the SDTC board. I sincerely hope they will succeed in gaining replenishment of funding for clean-tech in this spring’s budget.  It has tremendous potential for the planet, for Canada and for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Elizabeth May is the Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.
Originally printed in the Victoria News.

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It has been a persistent problem in Canada’s economic performance that innovation, as reflected in investments in research and development, is lagging.

The fact that our competitiveness is tied to innovation, and R&D, is not disputed. Neither is the fact that Canadian business investment in R&D has been dropping. It has been in decline whether measured in total dollars or as a percentage of GDP. Last March, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty attempted to restructure funds for R&D to stimulate business investment. “Canada is not keeping up with other advanced economies on this crucial front,” Mr. Flaherty told The Globe and Mail.

The policy response in the March 2012 budget was met with widespread skepticism. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit program was overhauled to provide less support for such investments, and relatively more money available for direct grants to companies selected as the lucky winners by government. And that is a strategy with an empirically lousy record. Reducing the SR&ED program by over $500-million, less than half of that was to be re-invested in grants.

In the same Globe and Mail story on these changes, Jayson Myers, chief executive of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, noted “The government will be hard-pressed to show how outcomes will be improved in business R&D if they’re spending less money,” (Barrie McKenna, “Tories target lagging innovation with funding overhaul,” The Globe and Mail, March 29, 2012)

If looking for where government policy has been achieving solid results in innovation, a prime example has been the clean-tech investments made through Sustainable Development Technology Canada. In 19 rounds of funding approvals since SDTC’s creation in 2001, 228 projects have been allocated $560-million in funds. That level of investment has resulted in a highly-successful track record in leveraging funds from other project partners. The ratio is 2.4:1, with $1.4-billion leveraged from $560-million.

The clean-tech sector is one identified globally as having enormous potential. By 2020, it is estimated that the sector will be worth $3-trillion to the world economy.

Certainly, investments in the U.S. have been outpacing Canada. U.S. President Barack Obama’s new tone of resolve in addressing the climate crisis suggests that their previous level of support will be ramping up. Obama highlighted the potential of clean-tech to stimulate the economy and create jobs in his inauguration address: “We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries; we must claim its promise.”

Canada is under-performing here as well, with only one percent of the sector’s current $1-trillion global value. Still, that relatively small piece of the pie is responsible for 52,600 Canadian jobs in 700 clean-tech companies. The sector was worth over $10-billion last year, and that was a jump of 18 per cent over the previous year.

The creation last year of the new Parliamentary all-party clean-tech caucus, chaired by Conservative MP Jay Aspin, has engaged MPs across party lines in the exciting potential for innovation in clean-tech. The sector is making gains in improving the energy efficiency of the mining sector, reducing waste water in the oil sands, cutting deeply into the price differential between renewable and coal to the point that some new wind and solar out-performs coal in terms of price.

A recent report by the Pembina Institute, (Competing in Clean Energy: How Canada Can Capitalize on the Global Transition to Clean Energy, Jan. 22, 2013), based on a forensic review of the sector and extensive interviews, concluded that Canada could expand our clean-tech sector to $60-billion by 2020. That realistic assessment needs to be underscored. We have the potential for six-fold growth over the next seven years.

One of Pembina’s key recommendations to build the sector, creating jobs and export opportunities for Canada, was to ensure replenishment of funds to SDTC in this spring’s budget. Pembina recommended $100-million per year for the next five years. Whether that figure is the right one, or is too low, is a matter for discussion. But it is clear that anyone watching this sector in particular, and the innovation challenge, in general, would conclude it would be a dreadful tragedy to allow the SDTC to vanish for lack of replenishment in this spring’s budget.

Canada’s economy needs greater innovation. And our commitment to reduce greenhouse gases needs a burgeoning clean-tech sector. These goals, environment and economy, are mutually supportive. Getting pricing signals right, setting out a clear energy and climate policy, will all help ensure that Canada does not get left behind in the rapid global pursuit of clean-technology and green alternatives.

Elizabeth May is the Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party.
Originally printed in the Hill Times.

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In Canada, things are so bad that we don’t even have hypocritical lip service to the crisis. We have silence.

However, over the last month, in a series of statements by some of the most powerful people on Earth, the threat of the climate crisis seems to be on the agenda as never before.

On January 21, President Barack Obama made the issue a key portion of his second inauguration address. He made reference to superstorm Sandy, the heat waves and record-breaking extreme weather events, and said:

‘We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms…

‘We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise.’

Just days later, at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, delivered a stunning speech. (The International Monetary Fund has done nothing but worsen environmental protections anywhere in the world in which it has delivered a prescription.) Mme Lagarde, having outlined the major threats to global economic stability, stated that climate was a larger threat. Describing it as ‘the greatest economic challenge of the 21st century,’ she said: ‘Increasing vulnerability from resource scarcity and climate change, with the potential for major social and economic disruption; this is the real wild card in the pack.’

In response to a question from the audience, she said: ‘Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.’ That would have be a strong statement from the head of Greenpeace; from the head of the International Monetary Fund, it is jaw-dropping.

Again, within days, the new president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, wrote an opinion piece for the January 28 Washington Post, urging urgent climate action. ‘After the hottest year on record in the United States—a year in which Hurricane Sandy caused billions of dollars in damage, record droughts scorched farmland in the Midwest and our organization reported that the planet could become more than 7 degrees warmer—what are we waiting for? We need to get serious fast. The planet, our home, can’t wait.’

Add to this mix a very tough letter of resignation from US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, lambasting those who undermined his efforts to promote renewable energy and parting shots from outgoing Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and it is hard not to see that a full court press from the Bretton Woods Institutions has lined up behind the US president to demand climate action.

The White House will still face climate deniers and obstructionists and grid-lock in Congress. Recently, some states are considering legislation to mandate that school children be taught anti-science on the climate threat. We are, by no means, assured of action, and if we were, could it be tough enough? It would have to be comprehensive and commit to deep cuts in greenhouse gases to make a real difference. But with the appointment of John Kerry as the new Secretary of State, at least it has renewed hope that the XL Pipeline will be turned down. I will be in Washington before publication of this article to urge that the US Administration reject the pipeline and move to real climate action.

We are running out of time for action. It always seemed that Barack Obama understood the threat. For his first term, he did very little, but he did manage to ensure that the economic stimulus package was focused on green technology. When he spoke of the economic potential of clean technology and green energy in his inauguration address, he was also speaking to a reality he knows well.

For Canada, the potential of clean tech is also substantial. According to a recent report from the Pembina Institute, Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in this key sector. The report estimates that Canada has the potential to build a $60-billion clean tech sector by 2020. We need to alert Canadians to the potential for our economy of acting to reduce greenhouse gases as forcefully as we warn that failure to act could condemn us to an unliveable world.

A series of speeches calling for climate action from unlikely sources is no guarantee of action. Nevertheless, it is significant and suggests that something new is afoot.

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