Context

State of the Canadian Electricity Industry 2022 Accelerate Net Zero

Theme 1: More and Faster: Getting to a Net Zero Grid

Context

In November 2021, the leadership of much of the world gathered in Glasgow, Scotland for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as Conference of Parties (COP) 26. This event was set to be a “big COP,” taking place in the midst of a global pandemic, five years after the landmark Paris agreement was signed, and featuring the return of the United States to the COP process. In the end, big steps forward were made collectively: whether they were big enough or not remains to be seen in the years ahead.

It was also a big event for the Government of Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government had been re-elected six weeks previously and a new cabinet was sworn in just a week before. The Prime Minister opened his remarks with a call to action, reminding attendees about Lytton, British Columbia, which set a record for high temperatures on June 29, 2021 and then was destroyed by fire. Mr. Trudeau said, “Canada is warming, on average, twice as quickly as the rest of the world. And in our north, it’s three times quicker. The science is clear: we must do more, and faster.”3

The federal government wants to do more, faster. Canada’s electricity industry supports this endeavour. But Canada needs to carefully craft the path forward. The country has made big commitments to decarbonize. These commitments will mean Canada needs two to three times the amount of electricity it produces now if the country is to decarbonize other sectors of the economy by 2050. In addition, the federal government has committed to a Net Zero grid by 2035.

Our industry is actively working with federal, provincial and territorial governments to chart our approach to Net Zero. Canada’s electricity system is poised to accelerate to meet the demands of decarbonization and the system will form the foundation of the decarbonization of Canada’s economy.

However, while the federal government has been good at crafting and announcing aspirational targets and commitments, the electricity industry has often been left waiting for details. Over a week in the spring of 2021, Canada had three different 2030 emissions reductions targets. At the tail end of 2020, the federal government announced that it was considering a Clean Electricity Standard (CES). A CES and commitment to a Net Zero electricity grid were planks of the government’s election platform in August 2021. These commitments must now be scaled to what is practical so that the industry can meet fast-growing demand for electricity, while maintaining reliable and affordable power to all Canadians.