The Government of Canada announces new funding for energy efficiency and climate action in six provinces
December 15, 2017 – Ottawa, Ontario
Helping Canadians improve energy efficiency is an important part of Canada’s action plan for growing the economy while meeting its climate commitments and creating good jobs in communities across the country.
Today the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced that the Government of Canada will provide over $1 billion from the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund over the next five years to the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
The Low Carbon Economy Fund is an important investment under Canada’s clean growth and climate plan, which will help Canada hit its 2030 Paris Agreement target. The fund has two components:
- a $1.4 billion Leadership Fund, which will help provinces and territories deliver on their commitments to reduce carbon pollution as part of Canada’s climate plan, and
- the Low-Carbon Economy Challenge, which will support ambitious projects that can be submitted by all provinces and territories, as well as municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations.
Building on the priorities they identified in Canada’s clean growth and climate plan, provinces and territories have proposed concrete actions for Leadership Fund investments that will reduce carbon pollution and spur clean growth. Provinces estimate that the projects included in today’s announcement could create up to 40,000 new jobs in fields like construction, other skilled trades, and engineering.
The Leadership Fund as a whole is projected to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas pollution by over 3 million tonnes in 2030, equivalent to taking nearly a million cars off the road that year. This is roughly equivalent to the emission reductions we expect to generate from proposed regulations for heavy-duty vehicles and engines announced in Spring 2017.
Provinces and territories become eligible to receive Leadership Fund dollars when they adopt Canada’s clean growth and climate plan, the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.
The federal government will launch the Low Carbon Economy Challenge in 2018.
“Energy efficiency is a win-win – it helps Canadians save money and it cuts carbon pollution. I’m thrilled that we’re working in partnership with six provinces today to invest in energy efficiency in homes, commercial buildings, and on farms.”
– Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Every dollar spent on energy efficiency programs generates between four and eight dollars of GDP.
Energy efficiency in Canada improved by 25% between 1990 and 2014. This improvement helped avoid more than 85 million tonnes of carbon pollution, and saved Canadians more than $38 billion.
In order to further support the implementation of Canada’s climate plan, the Government of Canada is investing $21.9 billion in green infrastructure. Investments will be made in priorities such as clean electricity grid interconnections, electric vehicle charging stations and projects to safely manage wastewater.
The Leadership Fund as a whole is projected to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas pollution by over 3 million tonnes in 2030, equivalent to taking nearly a million cars off the road that year. This is equivalent to the emission reductions we expect to generate from adopting stronger building codes by 2030.
The Leadership Fund will make homes and buildings more efficient, comfortable and affordable to run, help companies innovate and access technologies and help the forest and agriculture sectors to enhance stored carbon in forests and soils.
Marie-Pascale Des Rosiers
Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Environment and Climate Change Canada
819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll free)
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