Greening the Canadian economy

It’s Environment Week in Canada, and a good time to have a look at the rising economic contribution and international trade numbers of Canada’s environmental and clean technology (ECT) products.

Clean technologies are defined as any good or service designed with the primary purpose of contributing to remediating or preventing any type of environmental damage; or one that is less polluting or more resource-efficient than equivalent normal products which furnish a similar utility.

Two broad categories are recognized: environmental goods and services (including clean electricity from renewable sources and nuclear power generation, biofuels and primary goods, and waste management and remediation services); and clean technology goods and services (including manufactured goods, scientific and research and development services, construction services, and support services).

Exports and imports

In 2021, Canada exported $17.9 billion of ECT products, up $3.2 billion from 2020 and almost double the $9.4 billion worth of exports in 2012.

Exports to the United States totalled $13.6 billion, or just over three-quarters (75.7%) of total ECT products exports. The $6.4 billion worth of environmental goods accounted for almost half (47.0%) of US-bound exports.

Canada imported $21.8 billion in ECT product imports in 2021, up 13% from 2020 and more than double the $10.5 billion worth of exports in 2012. Over two-thirds (69.3%) of imports in 2021 came from the United States, followed by Asia (15.1%) and Europe (10.1%).

The $14.0 billion worth of manufactured goods associated with clean technology accounted for the largest share of imports, followed by biofuels and primary goods ($3.2 billion).

Economic contribution

The value (in nominal terms) of the ECT products sector increased from $67.8 billion in 2020 to $73.1 billion in 2021, accounting for 2.9% of Canada’s gross domestic product.

Over the same period, the number of jobs attributable to ECT products rose 6.5% to 314,527, accounting for 1.6% of all jobs in Canada in 2021. The utilities industry accounted for over one-fifth of ECT jobs in 2021, mainly in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry group.

Environmental protection expenditures

Canadian industries spent $10.0 billion on 10 categories of environmental protection activities in 2020.

The largest category among expenditures was wastewater management ($3.4 billion), followed by air pollution management ($2.6 billion) and solid waste management ($2.0 billion).

Oil and gas extraction ($2.7 billion) spent the most among industries on environmental protection activities, followed by primary metal manufacturing ($2.1 billion), and mining and quarrying ($1.1 billion).