Hydrogen Strategy for Canada: Seizing the Opportunities for Hydrogen - A Call to Action

For more than a century, our nation’s brightest minds have been working on the technology to turn the invisible promise of hydrogen into tangible solutions. Canadian ingenuity and innovation has once again brought us to a pivotal moment. As we rebuild our economy from the impacts of COVID-19 and fight the existential threat of climate change, the development of low-carbon hydrogen is a strategic priority for Canada. The time to act is now.
The Hydrogen Strategy for Canada lays out an ambitious framework for actions that will cement hydrogen as a tool to achieve our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and position Canada as a global, industrial leader of clean renewable fuels. This strategy shows us that by 2050, clean hydrogen can help us achieve our net-zero goal—all while creating jobs, growing our economy, and protecting our environment. This will involve switching from conventional gasoline, diesel, and natural gas to zero-emissions fuel sources, taking advantage of new regulatory environments, and embracing new technologies to give Canadians more choice of zero emission alternatives.
As one of the top 10 hydrogen producers in the world today, we are rich in the feedstocks that produce hydrogen. We are blessed with a strong energy sector, and the geographic assets that will propel Canada to be a major exporter of hydrogen and hydrogen technologies. Hydrogen might be nature’s smallest molecule but its potential is enormous. It provides new markets for our conventional energy resources, and holds the potential to decarbonize many sectors of our economy, including resource extraction, freight, transportation, power generation, manufacturing, and the production of steel and cement. This Strategy is a call to action. It will spur investments and strategic partnerships across the country and beyond our borders. It will position Canada to seize economic and environmental opportunities that exist coast to coast. Expanding our exports. Creating as many as 350,000 good, green jobs over the next three decades. All while dramatically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. And putting a net-zero future within our reach.
The importance of Canada’s resource industries and our clean technology sectors has been magnified during the pandemic. We must harness our combined will, expertise and financial resources to fully seize the opportunities that hydrogen presents. This strategy is the product of three years of study and analysis, including extensive engagement sessions, where we heard from more than 1,500 of our country’s leading experts and stakeholders. But its release is not the end of a process. This is only the beginning. Together, we will use this Strategy to guide our actions and investments. By working with provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, and the private-sector and by leveraging our many advantages, we will create the prosperity we all want, protect the planet we all cherish and we will ensure we leave no one behind.