Power­ing Ca­na­da’s Fu­ture: A Clean Elec­tri­ci­ty Stra­te­gy

Jo­na­than Wil­kin­son, Ste­ven Guil­be­ault - pu­blished on natural-​resources.ca­na­da.ca - Au­gust 13, 2025



It is easy to see the need for cli­ma­te ac­tion whe­re­ver we look. Every year, as the world gets a litt­le war­mer, the ex­tre­me weather events only in­ten­si­fy – from dead­lier hea­t­waves and more de­struc­ti­ve wild­fi­res and floods to droughts and mel­ting gla­ciers. The ca­ta­stro­phic im­pact is equal­ly ob­vious. More climate-​related health is­su­es. And re­cord fi­nan­cial los­ses and pro­per­ty da­ma­ge.

One thing we so­me­times fail to see in our chan­ging cli­ma­te is op­por­tu­ni­ty – not just to crea­te a more sus­tain­a­ble na­tu­ral en­vi­ron­ment but to trans­form our na­ti­o­nal eco­no­my; to launch en­ti­re new in­dus­tries and rei­ma­gi­ne exis­ting ones, all while crea­ting good, highly-​skilled, well-​paying jobs in every sec­tor of the eco­no­my and every re­gi­on of the coun­try. […]

Cli­ma­te ac­tion has the po­ten­ti­al to be the big­gest job-​creator in mo­dern Ca­na­di­an his­to­ry, and it’s al­re­a­dy hap­pe­ning. Our clean tech­no­lo­gy sec­tor, alone, has been gro­wing more than three times fas­ter than the na­ti­o­nal average. Ac­cor­ding to the In­ter­na­ti­o­nal En­er­gy Agen­cy’s 2024 World En­er­gy Em­p­loy­ment re­port, the num­ber of people working in the glo­bal clean en­er­gy sec­tor has al­re­a­dy sur­pas­sed those in the world’s oil and gas in­dus­try. And these trends will only ac­ce­le­ra­te in Ca­na­da be­cau­se our plan to fight cli­ma­te chan­ge is also a plan to grow a strong and pro­sperous eco­no­my. Over the next five years, Ca­na­da’s clean en­er­gy gross do­me­stic pro­duct is pro­jec­ted to reach $107 bil­li­on – dri­ven by some $58 bil­li­on in an­nu­al in­vest­ments by 2030, and more than 600,000 jobs.

Cli­ma­te in­ac­tion, on the other hand, would re­pre­sent a th­re­at to our eco­no­my, our jobs, and our very way of life. Our chan­ging cli­ma­te is al­re­a­dy cos­ting Ca­na­di­ans bil­li­ons of dol­lars a year for ever­y­thing from lost in­co­me to un­insu­ra­ble pro­per­ty da­ma­ge and mas­si­ve re­pair bills for vital in­fra­struc­tu­re. Sum­mer 2024, for ex­amp­le, was the cost­liest se­a­son for na­tu­ral dis­as­ters in Ca­na­di­an his­to­ry, with the bill peg­ged at more than $7 bil­li­on. Fu­ture in­ac­tion would raise that fi­nan­cial im­pact to the tens of bil­li­ons of dol­lars an­nu­al­ly by 2050, and then in­crease dra­ma­ti­cal­ly to more than half-​a-​trillion dol­lars a year in 2100.

We can avoid such de­vas­ta­ting los­ses, and crea­te a more sus­tain­a­ble, af­for­d­a­ble fu­ture, by buil­ding a clean en­er­gy eco­no­my. What’s more, we over­look this po­ten­ti­al at our own peril. Around the globe, go­vern­ments and fi­nan­cial mar­kets are se­ar­ching for long-​term gains. We are see­ing it in the cli­ma­te am­bi­ti­ons, and we are see­ing it with major com­pe­ti­tors, such as China. China is now the num­ber one de­ve­lo­per and user of re­ne­wa­ble en­er­gy tech­no­lo­gy, one of the top de­ve­lo­pers and ma­nu­fac­tu­rers of elec­tric ve­hicles, as well as the lar­gest mar­ket […]. We can­not allow our com­pe­ti­tors to take the lead in this im­portant eco­no­mic, geo-​political, and so­cial do­main, and nor can we be re­li­ant on go­vern­ments to power the eco­no­my.

Ca­na­da is enor­mously well placed to seize the op­por­tu­nities of a low-​carbon fu­ture to crea­te wealth and pro­spe­ri­ty in every pro­vin­ce and ter­ri­to­ry fast. We have the re­sour­ces of the land and the re­sour­ce­ful­ness of our people to be a glo­bal lea­der in the in­dus­tries and clean tech­no­lo­gies of today and to­mor­row – ever­y­thing from cri­ti­cal mi­ne­rals and pro­ces­sing to elec­tric ve­hicles and bat­tery ma­nu­fac­tu­ring, to bio­fu­els, nuclear en­er­gy, hy­dro­gen, re­ne­wa­bles and a range of tech­no­lo­gies in which Ca­na­da leads, in­clu­ding car­bon cap­tu­re, use and sto­rage. We also have the skil­led work­force, human rights pro­tec­tions, and en­vi­ron­men­tal stan­dards to get it done right.