This article was previously published in the Toronto Star.
It’s easy for North Americans, inundated by Trump news, to start to assume that the entire world has lost interest in decarbonization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are, in fact, too many examples to cite to illustrate the opposite. Here are just a few that show cutting emissions is now fully aligned with basic economics.
India, the world’s third largest emitter, is introducing a national carbon trading system next year. The country already hit its target of having half of all installed electricity coming from non-fossil fuels five years early.
The European Union, one of Canada’s most important trading partners, is in the process of setting an emissions target of 90 per cent below 1990 levels by 2040. The trading bloc is currently on track to meet its 2030 target of 55 per cent reduction. In 2023 alone, the EU slashed its collective emissions by eight per cent.
That’s remarkable progress enabled by soaring renewable installations. In June, for example, solar power produced more electricity than any other source on the continent.
But most significantly, China’s commitment to electrification means the die is cast and the world is rapidly moving to clean energy. In fact, China and the EU recently signed an agreement to step up efforts to address climate change.
Much has been said about the stunning rise of renewables in China. It has helped put coal power into decline and cut national emissions in the first quarter of this year, despite growth in electricity demand.
China is expanding its carbon market—which is already the largest of its kind in the world—to include steel, cement and aluminum. And the country is electrifying transport at a dizzying pace. Last year, roughly one in two new cars sold in China—by far the world’s largest automarket—came with a plug-in.
That has helped move numbers internationally. Globally, electric vehicles are set to make up more than one in four new cars sold this year, according to the International Energy Agency.
All of this has knock-on effects for Canada.
Six months ago, the U.S. was all-in on electrification. It will be again. The economics of the energy transition will increasingly become too obvious to ignore. That’s already the case in states like Texas where renewables have skyrocketed and Enbridge is putting nearly a billion dollars into a massive solar project—a “man bites dog” storyline for the climate era.
In the meantime, Canada has an opportunity to become a global player by building on one of our greatest natural advantages: dispatchable clean power.
The challenge is that we don’t have one national energy grid, we have many disconnected ones. That’s a big obstacle because the name of the game in the energy transition is to “electrify nearly everything”.
And while 80 per cent of Canada’s electricity is currently emissions-free, we are going to need to build more clean power at a rapid clip to attract investments that decarbonize industry, buildings, and transportation, while supporting growth in artificial intelligence.
The good news is that expanding clean power supply and connecting it across provinces fits with the current “one Canadian economy” zeitgeist. It checks all the boxes on Prime Minister Carney’s list—it supports economic autonomy, breaks down internal trade barriers, accelerates clean growth and decarbonization, and advances opportunities for Indigenous communities.
In short, building bigger, cleaner, smarter electricity systems should be the top priority of the federal government’s promise to build projects that are in the national interest.
The goal is eminently doable. We have the know-how, the resources, and the political commitment to make it happen. We just need to get to work.
The alternative is to misread our current moment and stay the course. Clinging to past economic models in times of great change does not preserve competitive advantage. It cedes it. That’s a grave danger for Canada in a world that is rapidly building a future where clean energy and economic growth are mutually reinforcing.
