November 09, 2022
On November 3rd, 2022, the federal government released the 2022 Fall Economic Statement (FES). The statement outlines the state of the Canadian economy and provided key details on promises made in Budget 2022.
Specifically, the FES provided details on programs designed to spur investment in Canada’s clean fuels sector which has needed support to attract investment after the passage of the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in August of this year. The IRA contains massive investments and tax credits designed to spur growth in the green economy in the U.S.
The Canadian Biogas Association (CBA) applauds Finance Canada’s efforts to close the competitiveness gap with the potential for Budget 2023 to provide a more level investment playing field for Canadian biogas & RNG projects. The following measures outlined in Canada’s 2022 FES and Budget 2022 provide opportunities for clean growth, such as:
Experts and industry associations had been communicating the need to keep pace with the incentives offered in the U.S. under the IRA to retain investments and development in Canada. However, Canada’s statement misses the mark when it comes to mirroring incentives in the IRA for biogas & RNG. These IRA incentives include:
The measures that were fleshed out in the FES as an attempt to close the gap created by the IRA have a biogas & RNG-sized hole. This is in spite of multiple organizations, including the CBA, advising the government about the importance of biogas & RNG as a low-carbon, readily available solution. The time is now for Canada to implement all the tools at its disposal to hit our climate targets, including biogas & RNG which are proven technologies in Canada already achieving 8Mt of emission reductions.
Learn how much more potential is available for biogas & RNG in the Canadian Biogas Association’s (CBA) report Hitting Canada’s Climate Targets with Biogas & RNG.
“Time is not on our side, and Canada needs to support all opportunities within the clean growth portfolio to hit our national emissions reduction targets”, says Jennifer Green, CBA Executive Director. The CBA and its members will continue discussions with the Department of Finance to ensure biogas & RNG is recognized and included as eligible technologies under the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit.