OTTAWA — Canada’s 8-billion-Canadian-dollar signature program to decarbonize the manufacturing industry is failing to attract large emitters.
A new report from Canada’s environment watchdog probed the Net Zero Accelerator Initiative and found its effectiveness undermined by a lengthy and arduous application process and the lack of an industrial decarbonization policy.
“Out of the 55 emitters that emitted at least 1 megaton of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2021 in Canada, only 15 applied to the Net Zero Accelerator and only 2 of them signed a contribution agreement,” the report read.
Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner Jerry DeMarco’s office also found that the program’s overall value for money, after committing public funding for companies to adopt clean tech to cut greenhouse gas emissions, wasn’t tracked.
