Question Period Note: CLEAN TECHNOLOGY

What is the Government of Canada doing to support advances in clean technology?

• The future of innovation is clean technology;
• There are opportunities to create jobs and wealth in all industries across Canada;
• The clean tech market is estimated to grow to as high as $6.4 trillion in the next four years;
• That is why the Government of Canada is making clean tech a priority; and
• We are working with Canadian business to make Canada the best place to start and grow a clean technology company.

SUPPLEMENTARY MESSAGES
• Currently, clean technology employs more than 180,000 Canadians. These are good, well-paying jobs that help reduce our environmental impacts and meet our climate change goals.
• Clean technologies contributed over $28 billion, or 1.4%, of Canada’s GDP in 2017. Of this, approximately $9 billion is exported.
• Clean technology offers inclusive and well-paying opportunities. In 2017, women and Indigenous people in clean technology were compensated better on average than economy-wide. Moreover, Indigenous peoples are also better represented in clean technology compared to economy-wide.
• In 2017, 94% of jobs in clean technology are full-time employment, which is greater than economy-wide. Additionally, all levels of education in clean technology, including high school or less, are paid better than the economy-wide average wage across all full-time occupations.

As of March 2019, SDTC (part of ISED’s portfolio) has invested over $1.15 billion in almost 400 companies, supporting over 13,000 jobs in the clean technology space. These companies have brought an additional $3.05 billion in funding from other sources and have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 18.1 megatonnes annually.

In Budget 2017, the Federal Government announced a new vision for Canada's economy as a global leader in innovation. This plan created the six Economic Strategy Tables to focus on ways to encourage innovation and guide federal efforts in supporting Canadian firms in becoming more globally competitive in advanced manufacturing, agri-food, clean technology, digital industries, health/bio-sciences and resources of the future.

Recent actions to advance clean technology:

1. Accelerate the growth of leading clean technology firms
   • Improvements to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive program by providing more effective support for growing, innovative, small and medium-sized businesses as they scale up;
   • Expand the Trade Commissioner Service’s Canadian Technology Accelerator program globally; and
   • Additional $50M in venture capital available to clean technology firms, under the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI).

   1. Develop an agile and high performing regulatory system:
      • External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness to assist Ministers and regulators to identify regulatory changes that promote economic growth and innovation, and help to deliver growth that works for everyone;
      • Clean Technology Targeted Regulatory Review to explore opportunities for the regulatory system to enhance clean technology innovation, adoption and competitiveness;
      • Annual Modernization Bill to remove outdated or duplicative regulatory requirements, and to allow for the updating of regulations; and
      • Create a Centre for Regulatory Innovation to work as a convener and focal point that is business facing, helping businesses connect with relevant regulators and managing a roster of sandboxes.

   2. Drive clean technology adoption through procurement:
      • The Innovative Solutions Canada program provides a novel procurement approach to allow the Government to partner with Canadian entrepreneurs in the development of early stage, pre-commercial innovation.

   3. Seize domestic and international clean technology opportunities:
      • Canadian regulators will explore the potential use of joint approvals in order to accelerate market entry for safe products in Canada and other countries;
      • Enhancement of Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) and other federal capacity at home and around the world to support the growth and diversification of Canada’s export:
      o CanExport and related funding programs to support businesses to reach new overseas markets; and
      o Expand support for emerging sectors in areas such as digital, e-commerce and intellectual property.

Budget 2017 provided over $2.3 billion to help clean technology grow and expand. These commitments included several initiatives committed to ensuring Canadian producers of clean technologies have the tools and support they need to innovate, scale-up and generate wealth while reducing greenhouse gases and contributing significantly to our economy.

To help clean tech companies grow and expand, Budget 2017 allocated $1.4 billion in new financing on a cash basis, starting in 2017-18, through the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada:
• $950 million in growth capital to support clean technology producers; and
• Approximately $450 million in additional project financing for clean technology producers.

Budget 2017 provided $12 million over four years, starting in 2017-18, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Natural Resources Canada to establish the Clean Growth Hub in January 2018. The Hub is a “no-wrong-door” service that streamlines client services, improves federal program coordination, enables tracking and reporting on clean technology results across government, and connects stakeholders to international markets. As of November 2019, the Hub has met with over 1,300 clients and comprises 16 departments and agencies.

To support projects across Canada that will develop and demonstrate new technologies that promote clean growth, Budget 2017 is providing $400 million over five years, starting in 2017-18, to re-capitalize Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s SD Tech Fund. This further supports SDTC in its key role of aiding early stage clean technologies ventures in scaling up their technology, and getting both their technology and their company ready for commercialization.

Additional measures:
• Budget 2017 provided $15 million over four years, starting in 2017-18, for Global Affairs Canada to implement an international business development strategy that helps Canadian clean technology firms to become world leaders and capitalize on growing global market opportunities; and
• Budget 2017 provided $14.5 million over four years, starting in 2017-18, to Natural Resources Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for the creation of the Clean Technology Data Strategy The Strategy aims to foster innovation, improve knowledge in the private sector and stakeholder communities, and help inform future government decision-making.
Other broad-based innovation initiatives made in Budget 2017 for clean technology companies:
• To attract and support new high-quality business investments, Budget 2017 created a new $1.26 billion five-year Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). SIF is designed to attract and support high-quality business investments across all sectors of the economy by encouraging research and development (R&D) that will accelerate technology transfer and the commercialization of innovative products, processes and services in dynamic and emerging areas, such as clean technology, and will facilitate the growth of these innovative firms;
• To lead or participate in collaborative R&D projects that will grow and benefit Canada’s innovation ecosystem, the Innovation Superclusters Initiative is investing up to $950 million over five years, starting in 2017–18 in Canada’s five superclusters: Ocean, SCALE.AI, Advanced Manufacturing, Protein Industries and Digital Technology. Superclusters are expected to fund projects that support Canada’s commitment towards a clean economy; and
• To help focus and accelerate efforts toward solving Canada’s big challenges, Budget 2017 proposes to provide $75 million over 2 years, starting in 2017-18, to address challenges such as helping Canada’s rural and remote communities reduce their reliance on diesel as a power source.

Budget 2016 committed Canada's six Regional Development Agencies to double their annual aggregate support for clean technology to $100 million per year, from existing resources, starting in 2016–17. Furthermore, clean growth is one of the four pillars of the Investing in Regional Innovation and Development framework, the RDA contribution to the Innovation and Skills Plan.

There is a wide range of estimates available on the size of the global clean technology market (between $2.5T and $6.4T) as there is no internationally accepted, common definition. The World Bank Group estimates that the size of the clean technology opportunity at $6.4T for 145 emerging and developing economies across 15 clean technologies. This is a lower-end estimate as it does not include countries like Canada, the United States and some European nations, nor does it cover all clean technologies. Canada is the first country to measure clean technologies and environmental goods and services at a national level and commit to the regular publication of these data .

The 2017 Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII) released in June 2017 showed Canada ranked fourth in the world. The index evaluated countries on how well they address growing demand for renewable energy and other clean technologies; connect start-ups with multiple channels to increase their success rates; and increase international engagement across the clean technology ecosystem. The GCII is released by Cleantech Group.

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