Canada’s Entrepreneurs on the Emerging Clean Energy Economy

Summary

Leading global economies are shifting from fossil fuel consumption to using alternative energy solutions. The goal of this project is to empower Canada’s entrepreneurs to articulate the necessary conditions for Canada to “catch-up” and succeed in the transition to a new clean energy economy. A secondary goal is to identify and engage a subset of entrepreneurs as “clean energy champions” across Canada who may be supportive of further efforts to encourage an accelerated pace of transition.

Grant Outputs

Competing in Clean Energy – http://www.pembina.org/pub/2406

This report examines the experiences of Canada’s clean energy entrepreneurs and offers public policy recommendations to make Canada more competitive in the global transition to clean energy. It suggests that while Canada is a top energy research and development funder, funding tends to be short term and distributed across multiple, uncoordinated programs. Interviewees suggested that the federal government has a necessary role to play in driving demand for clean energy through policy measures such as clean energy targets, green procurement policies and carbon pricing systems.