Act now or forever play global catch up on clean technology: Report
OTTAWA — Canada’s share of the fastest growing industry in the world has been shrinking over the last decade — and a new report says it’s time to step it up or miss out on a trillion-dollar opportunity.
The Ottawa-based Smart Prosperity Institute report — to be released today in Vancouver at the Globe Forum Leadership Summit for Sustainable Business — says clean technology will be a $2.2-trillion industry worldwide by 2022, with an estimated $3.6 trillion of investment up for grabs globally between now and 2030.
However, Canada’s market share in the global clean tech industry has fallen 12 per cent in the last decade, and will continue to contract without a solid, long-term commitment to growing the industry, said institute co-chair Stewart Elgie, a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa.
“Clean innovation is the big global economic prize in the next decade that leading nations are pursuing around the world,” Elgie said. “If Canada wants to win that race, we’ve got to raise our game.”