Industry watchers hope bringing large investors to Canada can help boost interest in Canadian renewables and raise the billions of dollars that will be needed. But where the money will land is still unclear.
Climate tech and clean energy projects feature heavily in deal book, but so do fossil fuels
Despite big-ticket fossil fuel projects, the two-day investment summit did also feature dozens of clean energy and climate tech projects in its deal book. Where will the money land?
While proposed fossil fuel projects got more attention at Prime Minister Mark Carney's investment summit in Toronto this week — from the $35 billion-plus West Coast oil pipeline to the $28.5 billion Ksi Lisims LNG terminal — there was a lot of climate tech on the agenda as well.
Energy storage, upgrading the electricity grid, nuclear projects and renewables like wind and solar were all sprinkled throughout the summit's deal book.
It's a throwback to Carney's career before he became prime minister when he spent years making a business case for climate-friendly policies in the global financial world, and could be a nod to what international investors increasingly want.
"What we've seen is that clean energy investment is roughly double that of fossil investment globally," said David Pickup, director of the electricity program at the Pembina Institute, an energy transition think-tank.
Industry watchers hope bringing large investors to Canada can help boost interest in Canadian renewables and raise the billions of dollars that will be needed. But where the money will land is still unclear.
Climate advocates critical of summit
Even before it started, the summit attracted massive criticism from some of the most prominent voices in the climate movement.
David Suzuki, the longtime environmentalist and journalist, blasted the summit in an interview with the CBC, saying a financial system that does not see the environment as the source of its wealth is doomed.
"Yeah, we have a crisis right now," Suzuki told the CBC’s David Common, referring to the current trade conflict with the U.S. which is driving Carney to diversify investment into Canada.
"But I don't think the solution is to call these people together and say, 'Look, invest in Canada, and we will continue the destruction of the biosphere that supports us.'"
WATCH | Suzuki takes aim at investment agenda:
Suzuki: U.S. trade crisis no excuse for ‘destruction’ of Canadian biosphere
The investment opportunities include dozens of clean energy and climate tech projects, such as wind and solar farms, carbon capture facilities, electricity grid upgrades and energy storage. But the issue is what else is getting pitched.
"The No. 1 problem with [the investment summit’s] deal book is the amount of oil and gas projects that are proposed," said Richard Brooks, climate finance director at advocacy group Stand.earth. "It features $100 billion of new oil and gas projects that Mark Carney is seeking investment in."
Pickup pointed out that the recently-announced West Coast oil pipeline could be up to 90 per cent funded by the federal and Alberta governments, which the Pembina Institute says is a signal that it's a risky investment that may not end up paying off for taxpayers. It also shows that private investors are not as interested in fossil fuel projects.
"The trends are pretty clear globally that clean is the thing that people want to invest in and in particular, clean is the thing that private investment really wants to bring forward," Pickup said.
After Carney's rollbacks on key climate policies, such as electric vehicle mandates and the consumer carbon tax, Canada is now more than 20 years behind on its climate targets, according to the latest analysis by the Canadian Climate Institute. On the current course, Canada's emissions in 2050 will be 460 megatonnes of carbon, rather than the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, a commitment enshrined in law.
Investors consider Canadian renewables
Vittoria Bellissimo, president of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), says interest is growing in the Canadian clean energy sector. Her association hosted a finance summit back in May that attracted hundreds of investors and developers, and Canadian utilities are busy procuring renewable power to expand electricity production.
"I think at a very high level, the message that ... is being communicated through this investment summit is that Canada is open for business and Canadian infrastructure is an area that looks attractive and is a stable investment," she said.
CanREA estimates that there's 25 gigawatts of installed solar, wind and energy storage capacity in Canada right now, a more than 50 per cent increase since 2020. That's enough to power about 18 million homes. And they’re tracking another 24 gigawatts that provinces are looking to procure in the future.
Bellissimo said bringing investors to Canada is important to get more interest flowing into some of these projects.
"All in, it's a $200-billion opportunity, and investors are sitting up and taking notice," Bellissimo said, pointing to the newly established major projects office and federal efforts to make project approvals easier.
That's important because the federal government has an ambitious electricity plan, Pickup said, which aims to double electricity generation throughout the country by 2050 by using clean sources. “We're talking a big amount of investment that needs to go into our electricity system. And the real question here that I have is, is this investment that we're bringing for today, does it align with that?”
WATCH | Carney's electricity plan:
Carney announces national strategy to double Canada's electricity grid by 2050
Pickup pointed to certain solar and wind projects in the investment summit’s deal book as positive signs. But investment alone won't be enough; the government also has to come through with strong policies that will lead to both future supply and demand for this electricity, he said.
That includes things like an electric vehicle strategy that would lead to more clean electricity use in the transportation sector rather than gasoline, and speeding up home and building retrofits that will get fossil fuels out of Canadian homes.
“So the question really becomes, you know, are we moving towards this future economy that Carney and others in the federal government talk about?”
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Inayat Singh covers the environment and climate change at CBC News. He is based in Toronto and has previously reported from Winnipeg. Email: inayat.singh@cbc.ca
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