Canada’s wealth, our financial id, and our monetary booms (and busts) have lengthy been tied to the worth of pure sources inside our borders. We have now benefited immeasurably from the pure wealth of those lands: our huge forests, deep lakes, and naturally the reservoirs of oil and gasoline buried beneath our ft.
As we discover ourselves quickly coming into the clear power transition, and because the superpower economies of the USA and the European Union pivot arduous towards a net-zero 2050, a possibility to transition our personal pure useful resource sectors has emerged.
Local weather motion is more and more being delivered by bold industrial coverage, resembling America’s Inflation Discount Act, which can be centered on bringing provide chains again house, and strengthening commerce ties with allies and like-minded nations.
Collectively, these traits current a possibility to result in an much more affluent and sustainable economic system for Canada, but it surely requires us to wager on ourselves. Canada has lengthy been a big exporter of pure sources, and the clear power transition doesn’t change that.
Quebec, for instance, has a few of the highest-grade iron ore on this planet, making it among the many few choices viable for the subsequent technology of metal manufacturing (utilizing a course of generally known as the direct discount of iron). Demand for high-quality iron ore is subsequently anticipated to develop considerably.
Saskatchewan, in the meantime, has lengthy been a serious world provider of potash, a crucial fertilizer for agriculture, however with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine slicing off provide from the world’s second largest supply, Canada’s exports greater than doubled between 2021 and 2022.
These are nice examples of rising export alternatives, however maybe extra necessary is what Canada can obtain by harnessing our pure sources to drive value-added progress and financial improvement at house. In different phrases, combining our pure useful resource wealth with sensible industrial coverage.
Hydrogen is a good instance. Canada has the sources to develop inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing capability with entry to plentiful freshwater and an electrical energy grid that’s already 84 per cent non-emitting. However we don’t must look ahead to a worldwide market to develop for the useful resource, as we are able to use it to develop our export marketplace for low-carbon and next-zero merchandise that rely on hydrogen.
Hydrogen is among the key substances in net-zero metal manufacturing. It’s going to even be crucial within the manufacturing of unpolluted ammonia-based fertilizers, methanol, and a bunch of business chemical substances with rising low-carbon export markets.
Equally, Canada has lots of the key crucial minerals wanted for electrical car (EV) batteries, together with lithium and nickel. Not solely is demand for these minerals exploding, we are able to additionally use them right here in Canada as we develop a whole homegrown provide chain for EV batteries, capturing the roles, mental property, and prosperity that goes with it.
However to unlock this potential, governments have to suppose strategically about how you can finest leverage our pure sources. Clear Vitality Canada has made this case on the subject of batteries, and we have now referred to as for net-zero industrial roadmaps for all key heavy industries that use pure sources.
Canada can also’t relaxation on its laurels on the subject of clear electrical energy, which underpins our potential to extract and use these sources cleanly. Our lands and shorelines can present virtually limitless clear power, however provided that we ambitiously construct out clear technology and transmission. This is the reason the federal authorities’s forthcoming Clear Electrical energy Regulation (that might see Canada’s energy grid obtain net-zero emissions by 2035) is so necessary. Not solely does it stake out our ambition and drive a transparent market sign for the power we’d like, however it’s crucial in guaranteeing we stay aggressive with our allies and buying and selling companions, who’re equally prioritizing net-zero electrical energy grids. With out it, we threat seeing our grid get dirtier as we attempt to meet demand—and with it, lose our aggressive edge.
Pure sources have a vivid future in Canada. We are able to construct new commerce ties and assist our associates and allies fill key gaps of their provide chains. However greater than that, our pure sources will be part of our personal story within the new economic system, one the place we seize all of the wealth and alternative they provide, forming a bedrock for jobs, communities, and prosperity for the many years to come back.
This put up was co-authored by Rachel Doran and initially appeared on The Hill Instances.
