Canada’s push to attract billions of dollars in infrastructure investment could accelerate the clean energy transition, industry voices and analysts say, but without a clear plan and supportive policies, the government risks leaving that investment potential unrealized.

At the Canada Investment Summit held last week in Toronto, Prime Minister Mark Carney spearheaded an effort to attract investors to dozens of projects that were pitched to Canadian and international asset managers, pension funds and banks.

The projects span clean energy, critical minerals, power and utilities, as well as fossil fuels, manufacturing, transportation, digital technology and ports. The 66-page prospectus includes over US$100 billion for potential investment in fossil fuel projects, a Pembina Institute analysis found, and under US$90 billion for clean energy.

The prospectus paints “a picture of investing into the future,” Phil De Luna, the CTO of CURA Climate, a Calgary-based low-carbon cement startup, said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

Moving from investment commitments to actions will be the real test of the federal government, experts say.

While there are quick, bold steps being taken, the Canadian government is “not necessarily acting comprehensively and they’re not bringing Canadians into the discussion,” Don Drummond, a professor at Queen’s University's School of Policy Studies and a member of the Canadian Climate Institute’s Clean Growth Panel, said in an interview.

“I look at this and I see some isolated clean growth plans,” he said. “I don’t see them as part of a plan.”

Clean energy features prominently in investment pitch

The summit did not go unchallenged for its pitching of fossil fuel development such as oil pipelines and a natural gas liquefaction facility.

However, the prospectus lists only 11 conventional energy projects, compared with 31 clean energy projects. There are over 60 mineral and mining projects, which includes critical mineral resources that are vital to the energy transition, and 11 projects in power and utilities like energy storage facilities and transmission lines for wind power.

Even sectors that are not heavily oriented around sustainability, like advanced manufacturing, include the likes of PowerCo Canada’s battery cell manufacturing facility in St. Thomas, Ont. for electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage applications.

At a time when the Canadian government is scaling back its ambitions on the climate and focusing on natural resource development, it is encouraging to see many clean growth projects on the prospectus, Drummond said.

As Canada works to forge closer ties with the European Union, the investment summit is “incredibly complementary,” De Luna said. If Canada is to increase its trade with the bloc, it will have to deal with its carbon border tax. Producing commodities in line with EU environmental regulations could give Canada a strategic advantage, he continued, and the projects in the prospectus could help achieve that.

Clean Energy Canada is pleased with the clean energy, electricity transmission and critical mineral projects on the prospectus, the think tank’s director of policy and strategy Joanna Kyriazis said in an interview.

However, equally important are the policy decisions, project prioritization and financial decisions that can turn that potential into reality, she said.

Firm plan, regulations needed for investments

Despite De Luna’s pleasure with the scale of the prospectus and Carney’s ambition to cut red tape wrapped around projects, he hopes the government can take action on “the carrot and the stick” — the supportive and regulatory policies and laws.

Meeting Canada’s greenhouse gas emission targets for 2030 and 2050 — which an analysis has found unlikely at the current pace — will require measures such as stronger carbon pricing and greater emphasis on electrification, De Luna said.

Similarly, David Pickup, the Pembina Institute’s director of electricity, said the investment summit is encouraging because of the major commitments it mobilized toward electrification. However, it lacked details on how the investments could “fit in with the broader government agenda to both invest in electricity” and clean energy, he said. The event did not address implementing policies like an EV sales mandate or adoption of heat pumps, for example.

“The gap is really the policies that are going to really deliver the future economy that the government talks about,” Pickup said.

A plan underlying the investments would emphasize that the clean economy is the long-term prospect over fossil fuels, Drummond said, and account for how climate change is projected to stunt Canada’s economic growth.

Drummond said regulatory reform is necessary to develop all projects at a faster pace, but the federal government is instead selecting a handful of projects for streamlining under the Major Projects Office. “Who is in government to pick these projects and why have a two-track system?” he said.

If there is another investment summit next year, Kyriazis hopes it features more clean economy projects backed by policies that cement the business case for investment.