Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, members of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources.
I'd like to start off by acknowledging that I'm participating today on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional gathering place and centre for trade for many first nations, Métis and Inuit people.
Edmonton Global thanks the committee for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the hydrogen opportunity. The purpose of Edmonton Global is to radically transform and grow the economy of the Edmonton metropolitan region.
The energy transition, in particular the hydrogen opportunity, is an excellent example of the radical transformation that our region is seeking to make. We can’t do it alone. We recognize that the federal government is a critical partner in this transition. Global net-zero commitments being made by governments and industry are driving this transformation. It's estimated that this shift will see global investments of between $2.5 trillion and $11 trillion between now and 2050.
Hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition across the world and could represent 20% of the future energy mix. In Canada, that number is even higher at approximately 30%. This is a huge economic opportunity for Canada. The Transition Accelerator, a Canadian think tank working to accelerate our energy transition, estimates that the hydrogen transition represents a $100-billion opportunity annually. It will create jobs. The federal government’s hydrogen strategy estimates 350,000 new jobs across Canada. A recently commissioned study on the energy transition saw similar results, with the shift to clean energy technologies resulting in a $61-billion impact on Alberta’s GDP and 170,000 jobs.
In 2020, the first hydrogen hub in Canada was launched in the Edmonton region, in recognition of the critical role the region will play as the epicentre of Canada’s hydrogen economy. The hub is led by the mayors and leaders of five municipalities within the region, as well as the chiefs of two of the region’s first nations.
The world is starting to pay attention to what is happening here. We’ve had a number of announcements of multi-billion dollar projects planned for the region, including the world’s first industrial scale net-zero hydrogen production facility. We’re expecting about $30 billion in new investments within the region by 2030.
Delivering on the economic opportunity will not occur on its own. It will require a commitment from all orders of government to work together in a timely and coordinated manner. We’ll need to invest in infrastructure. This is related to the transport and use of hydrogen within hydrogen hubs, as well as getting hydrogen to key export markets.
We must also invest in the workforce that will support the hydrogen economy. This is a great transition opportunity for the highly skilled workforce developed through our traditional energy sector.
Federal government programs will play a key role in supporting this industry’s growth. Programs like the clean fuels fund and the net-zero accelerator are a great start. Federal incentives such as a tax credit for CCUS deployment can play a critical role as well.
We need a strategic approach to federal government investments, focused on quickly building and scaling the infrastructure needed. This will help deliver the emission reductions that will be needed to achieve net zero. This means focusing on the parts of the country that can scale—and scale quickly—not only in the production, but in the use of it across key sectors.
We are seeing an international trend in the use of hydrogen hubs to catalyze the growth of the hydrogen economy. Countries like the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany and Korea are all establishing hydrogen hubs. Similarly, Canada should treat hubs as a strategic mechanism for advancing the energy transition. Hubs provide a tailored approach that recognizes regional opportunities across different parts of the country.
The Edmonton region hydrogen hub is providing a road map for the rapid development of western Canada’s hydrogen economy, which will require an integrated approach that includes support for things like hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, incentives for the acquisition of hydrogen fuel cell or dual-fuel vehicles, and the staged grow-out of pipeline infrastructure to connect key hydrogen demand clusters.
There is a global competition to establish leadership in the hydrogen economy, and Canada risks being shut out of key export markets if we don’t move quickly and aggressively. We need our federal and provincial governments working together to establish key hydrogen transportation infrastructure for getting our low-carbon, low-cost products to global markets like Japan and Korea.
One last area I would like to highlight is the importance of moving away from messaging that is focused on the colour coding of various methods of hydrogen production. The investment community needs certainty around the carbon intensity expectations, and we should be communicating scientifically credible measures of carbon intensity. There is a risk that some of the world’s most advanced and rigorous projects will be regarded as incompatible with some organizations' net-zero goals if we continue with the narrative that low-carbon hydrogen can come only from renewable energy sources. Edmonton Global applauds the efforts of the federal government and the Alberta government to pursue a rigorous, scientifically credible carbon intensity standard for future projects.
This concludes my opening remarks. I'm happy to respond to questions from the committee.