Great news out of Canada:
About $25-billion has been invested in Canada’s clean-energy sector in the past five years, and employment is up 37 per cent, according to a new report from climate think tank Clean Energy Canada to be released Tuesday. That means the 23,700 people who work in green energy organizations outnumber the 22,340 whose work relates to the oil sands, the report says.
Over the past five years, Canada's wind, solar, biomass, and hydro energy capacity has increased 93%. The investments have
grown and results are coming in:
- Wind, solar, run-of-river, and biomass capacity have nearly doubled in the past five years.
- Large hydro remains the foundation of Canada’s electricity system, providing 85 percent of all renewable electricity capacity, and continues to grow.
- In 2013 Canada hit a record high, putting up one new wind turbine every 10 hours.
Cumulative investment in Canada’s clean energy sector amounted to $25 billion over the past five years.
- In 2013, Canada jumped from 12th to seventh place in the G20 for clean- energy investment.
- Clean energy jobs are growing incredibly fast. In 2013 thirty-seven percent more Canadians worked in the renewable energy industry than in 2009.
- As a result, by 2013 the clean energy sector—encompassing manufacturing, power production, energy efficiency, and biofuels—accounted for more direct Canadian jobs than the oil sands.
- With growing selection, incentives, and public-charging networks, electric vehicle sales doubled between 2012 and 2013.
However, as in the U.S., even though Canada is seeing the benefits of green energy, there is still a
preoccupation in the government with traditional energy concerns.
Government backing is crucial for this industry, Ms. Smith said, as it has been for our other strategic industries. “Every major industrial sector in Canada – from the aerospace industry to the oil sands – has gotten off the ground with support from the federal government. But in the clean-energy sector, the federal government is really missing in action.”
Not only does the oil industry still get more substantial subsidies, she said, it also eats up a good deal of the country’s diplomatic relations efforts – through the lobbying for the Keystone XL pipeline, for example.
The one thing that emerging environmental markets of the world have going for them, in our money-based culture, is that they are new and open to huge growth potential. The demands are there and the supply will have to be produced. Whether it's simply people looking towards their own future economic survival or people looking towards their own planet's future survival—it is inevitable. The question for Canadians is who is going to end up owning the economic future?
The Clean Energy Canada report notes that much of the investment for Canada’s clean-tech expansion currently comes outside the country. Of the five largest investors since 2009, just one, Manulife Financial Corp., is Canadian. Two Japanese companies are in that top-five list, along with two German banking groups.
Take note, America.