Green battery-powered future? Canada has a strategy for that | Daily News Byte

OTTAWA—The federal government has unveiled an ambitious roadmap to make Canada a critical minerals powerhouse, describing a “generational opportunity” to spur economic growth, fight climate change and advance global security and Indigenous reconciliation — all at the same time.

The new strategy comes without new funding, but it is full of lofty goals. Citing tens of billions of dollars worth of potential economic activity, the plan aims to position Canada as a major global hub for the minerals needed to transition away from climate-changing fossil fuels, including everything from electric cars and semiconductors to solar panels, wind turbines and nuclear reactors. . Canada would not only mine and process these minerals, the plan says, but manufacture and recycle the products in which they are used, all while expanding mineral exploration and streamlining processes to approve major projects with new transportation and energy infrastructure that will support them.

However, the strategy also highlights potential challenges to this vision, including the need to engage with Indigenous peoples on whose territory future mining projects may be located, such as Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” region, and concerns about the detrimental effects of such a resource on livelihoods. medium extraction.

“The focus of this strategy will be on expanding the sector, getting things moving faster – all while doing things the right way,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told reporters in Vancouver on Friday.

The strategy comes as the federal government tries to position Canada as a global leader in the fight against climate change and nature conservation, and to convince the public that the country can see economic gains from those efforts. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed much of Europe’s reliance on oil and gas exported from the authoritarian country, Canada has also positioned itself as a reliable trading partner with mineral and energy supplies as the world moves away from climate-changing fossil fuels.

Framed in this context, the strategy outlines a series of goals to harness critical mineral reserves to fuel growing demand for clean technology, expand economic growth across the country and among Indigenous peoples while reducing emissions and creating reliable supply chains for Canada’s international allies.

Business groups were quick to welcome the new strategy on Friday. Canadian Mining Association president Pierre Gratton described it as a welcome industrial strategy that — if implemented — could expand Canada’s position in sectors that use critical minerals, such as the production of batteries for electric vehicles.

“I have already seen many government strategies. I usually describe them as pablum. This one is not,” he said.

Drawing from about $3.8 billion in funding earmarked in this year’s federal budget, as well as money from 2021 and signals that more could be coming, the strategy focuses on six initial “priority” minerals related to electric vehicle batteries: lithium, graphite, elements of nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earths. It promises to use more than $270 million from the last two budgets to expand critical mineral exploration. It also highlights how this year’s budget pledged $1.5 billion for infrastructure to support critical mineral supply chains, such as roads, rail lines and shipping ports, and ways to connect green energy projects.

The strategy also emphasizes the need to accelerate development projects for critical minerals, including aligning regulations and review processes with provinces and territories, as well as with Canada’s largest trading partner, the United States.

For Gratton, this will be the “hardest part of the strategy,” given longstanding industry demands for a more streamlined review process for proposed projects. He noted that the government will also need to balance the desire for speed with the necessity to ensure environmental checks and the inclusion of affected indigenous communities.

Both of these challenges exist in places like Ontario’s “Ring of Fire,” a mineral-rich area of ​​environmentally sensitive peatland where some First Nations have concerns about potential mining development, Wilkinson said.

“Both of these issues must be addressed in any agreement that mining in the Ring of Fire will continue,” he said.

Environmental groups have also raised concerns about preserving the region’s peatlands, which are a natural “carbon sink” that offsets greenhouse gas emissions from human activities that cause climate change. A recent report by Environmental Defense said that developing mining claims in the area could release up to 250 megatonnes of carbon — the equivalent of about 37 percent of Canada’s national emissions in 2020.

Jamie Kneen of the MiningWatch group told the Star on Friday he was wary of the strategy’s aim to streamline approvals and regulatory rules he already sees as too lax for the industry.

“What we’re hearing from communities is that they want more protection, not less,” Kneen said.

According to Wilkinson, the strategy would address such concerns by ensuring that critical mineral projects are subject to strict environmental regulations. The government’s strategy will also adhere to international commitments on indigenous rights, with the “aim” of securing the consent of indigenous peoples affected by resource projects, as well as a new framework for sharing the resulting economic benefits, the strategy says.

And those benefits, generally speaking, can be significant. The strategy cites a report by think tank Clean Energi Canada that estimates Canada’s electric vehicle battery supply chain could support up to 250,000 jobs and add $48 billion to the national economy each year by 2030.

“Critical minerals represent a generational economic opportunity for this country, and this government is very focused on seizing that opportunity,” Wilkinson said.

POST: