• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas September 21, 2023
Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote September 20, 2023
Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds September 20, 2023
Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP September 20, 2023
‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak September 19, 2023
Next
Prev

Infrastructure Bank Directs $21.9 Billion to Clean and Green Tech

November 4, 2016
Reading time: 3 minutes

fsHH / Pixabay

fsHH / Pixabay

 
fsHH / Pixabay

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau unveiled a mid-financial-year update this week that courted criticism for its ballooning deficit, but directed C$21.9 billion into a variety of cleantech and green infrastructure such as transit over the next decade, Cleantech Canada reports, expanding a promise in his spring budget to put $5 billion into such projects by 2021.

The bank will partner with private investors to “conclude and execute complex infrastructure deals using loans, loan guarantees, and equity investments,” Reuters reports, citing a Finance Canada statement. The government said it expected every public dollar invested to leverage between four and five dollars of private investment

  • The climate news you need. Subscribe now to our engaging new weekly digest.
  • You’ll receive exclusive, never-before-seen-content, distilled and delivered to your inbox every weekend.
  • The Weekender: Succinct, solutions-focused, and designed with the discerning reader in mind.
Subscribe

Morneau “did not release specifics, but said the development of renewable and low-carbon energy projects, smart grids, interprovincial transmission lines, and other greenhouse gas emission-reducing initiatives are all on the agenda.”

The green spending represents the lion’s share of the $35 billion the federal government said it would allocate to bring a new infrastructure investment bank to life as early as next year.

“Of the initial $35 billion, $15 billion would come from already announced federal investments,” Reuters notes. “An additional $20 billion will be available for investments that would result in the bank holding assets in the form of equity or debt.”

In inviting private capital to participate alongside the infrastructure bank, Morneau said Canada’s “low political risk” makes it “a very desirable place for international pension funds who’d like to make investments in infrastructure.”

As the Canadian Press and others observed, however, the public financial commitment will add to the federal deficit—now predicted to be $25 billion this year, rather than the $23.4 billion Morneau predicted last spring, and $31.7 billion higher than forecast over the period to 2021, reaching $114.9 billion.

The infrastructure bank implements a suggestion that the expert Advisory Council on Economic Growth put forward to the government—with a significant difference in funding levels. “The council said the bank should be capitalized with at least $40-billion in federal funds over 10 years,” the Globe and Mail notes. “Instead, Mr. Morneau announced that the bank will be capitalized with $15 billion from existing programs that were given extra funds Tuesday, and a further $20 billion in equity or debt tied to specific projects built with public and private partners.”

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities welcomed the new investments in transit, social, green, and other infrastructure, CBC News reports, “saying they would be ‘transformative for communities of all sizes in every region of Canada.’”

Conservative leader Rona Ambrose dismissed the initiative as “a clear sign the Liberal economic plan has failed,” while New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair criticized the government’s invitation to private capital. “The Liberals are taking the money they promised to invest and putting it into the infrastructure bank—which means projects will focus on meeting private investors’ interests rather than Canadians’ needs,” he said in a statement.



in Canada, Climate & Society, Community Climate Finance, Demand & Distribution, Energy Politics, Energy Subsidies, Jurisdictions, Transit

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

UN Climate Change/flickr
COP Conferences

Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas

September 24, 2023
404
Jon Sullivan/flickr
Ontario

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
592
Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels
Heat & Power

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
95

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

UN Climate Change/flickr

BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas

September 21, 2023
404
Kristoferb/Wikimedia Commons

Canadians Could Save $10.4B, Cut Climate Pollution by Replacing Central Air with Heat Pumps

August 28, 2023
810
/Piqusels

‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak

September 19, 2023
469
Asurnipal/wikimedia commons

Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP

September 20, 2023
171
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
592
Rennett Stowe/flickr

‘I’ve Been Ghosted,’ Rural Mayor Says, as Alberta Towns Push Back on Renewables Moratorium

September 8, 2023
1.9k

Recent Posts

Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
95
Jeremy Bezanger/Unsplash

Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds

September 20, 2023
62
Wesley Fryer/flickr

Smart Thermostats Boost Grid Stability Amid Intense Heat

September 20, 2023
45
Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
120
Mr Renewables/Wikipedia

Californians Fight for New Community Solar Plan

September 20, 2023
106
Plug'n Drive/Wikimedia Commons

Rural Carshares Ensure EV Push Leaves No One Behind

September 20, 2023
39
Next Post

Plant biodiversity at risk as climate changes

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}