Canadian Investment in Renewables Surpasses That of the Oil Sands

December 3, 2014 – Yesterday CBC News reported a study on the state of green energy technology in the country. Conducted by Clean Energy Canada, the report indicated that over the past half-decade more new jobs and more money has gone into renewable energy projects in the country than to oil sands development.

Renewable clean energy, under the definition of the study includes wind, solar, run-of-river (hydroelectric), and biomass. Employment in these industries has increased by 37% to 23,700. That’s more than one thousand greater than Canadians employed by the oil sands. Energy from these renewable sources has grown by 93% since 2009.

Canada’s investment in renewables moved them to 7th in the rankings of G20 countries in 2013. That’s up from 12th in 2012. Total investment in 2013 amounted to $6.5 billion.

Who is Clean Energy Canada? It is a Canadian-based organization focused on a low carbon future by advancing clean electricity initiatives, energy efficiency and low-emission transportation technologies.

Where are most of the projects? Ontario and Quebec followed by British Columbia. Source of capital includes investments from the private sector. Some of those are German and Japanese sources.

In its report Clean Energy Canada stated that if other provinces made similar commitments that Canada could meet all of its energy needs through renewables by 2050.

It recommended:

• the federal government provide tax incentives for research and development on solar technologies and storage.
• the federal government develop a national clean energy infrastructure.
• the federal government end its fixation on exporting oil and the building of pipelines for this purpose.
• the federal government focus on renewable energy exports.
• the federal and provincial governments offer rebates on electric vehicles.
• the federal government put a price on carbon that would reduce the use of carbon-based energy sources.

The federal government, on the other hand, defends itself by describing its current ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative, a $281 million CDN investment over 5 years focused on renewable clean energy technologies. Compare that, however, to the estimated $2.8 billion the federal government provides in subsidies and tax breaks to oil sands operators and you can immediately see the inequality in its commitment to renewables.

Merran Smith, Director of Clean Energy Canada, pointed out that governments, both provincial and federal, have provided incentives to nascent industries in the past including aerospace, automobiles and the oil sands. But the federal government has appeared to deliberately ignore renewable energy in its focus on getting oil extracted from the sands of Alberta and out to the U.S. and overseas markets.

She pointed to how the government has picked favorites and is running with them despite the fact that they are making it impossible for Canada to meet its international commitments to reducing carbon.

Smith states, “It is not a level playing field. The oil and gas industry is creating a lot of carbon pollution and doesn’t pay the cost of that pollution…..we need a price on carbon.”

The latest development in the price of a barrel of oil may prove to be the best argument for greater interest in renewable energy initiatives in Canada. Extracting oil from the oil sands needs a world benchmark price of at least $85 US a barrel to be economically viable. With prices hovering around or below $70 US, and with no rebound in sight, it would seem that even the fossil fuel companies operating in the oil sands would be rethinking where to put present investment dollars.

And for the provincial governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, home of the oil sands, the lost revenue from declining royalties should be inspiration for them to invest in renewable energy projects within their own jurisdictions.

And finally, for Canada’s federal government, watching its balanced budget numbers beginning to vanish because of declining tax revenues collected from oil, it should be a wake up call to jump into renewables far more than just $281 million pittance it currently brags about.

Related articles across the web

• Federal government must do more for clean energy industry: report
• Canada’s clean energy sector growing quickly as investment jumps: study
• Canada clean energy sector employs more people than oil sands