B.C. and the rest of Canada need to get on the express battery bus now. Waiting two stops down while other countries get the best seats won’t cut it en route to a once-in-a-generation business opportunity.
Consider that global transport activity is projected to more than double over the next 30 years. Consider also that private automobiles generate an estimated 75% of urban passenger transportation emissions and that goods movement generates more than 40% of all transportation carbon dioxide. Add to the equation the push by the United States and other major greenhouse gas producers to electrify goods and people movement and you have a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity today to supply the raw materials and technical know-how to service the global energy storage boom. Canada has the natural resource fundamentals for battery production. As pointed out in Clean Energy Canada’s (CEC) report on building a world-class battery supply chain in this country, Canada also has access to a well-integrated North American market. Its link through B.C. to Asia via the transpacific trade loop provides it with well-established connections to a region that is projected to contribute roughly half of the world’s trade growth by 2030. The challenge for Canada, however, as the CEC report points out, is that the country “is still a long way from having a mature battery supply chain.” It is a long way from a lot of other desirable destinations in the global marketplace. That has to change today. Developing a North American battery alliance within the next year to leverage the integrated Canada-U.S. market is just one of the CEC’s recommendations. But more than that, it’s time for Canada to start building back better in the post-vaccination economy: build back better productivity, amp up competitive juices and take advantage of the technological and natural resource advantages Canada has. Simply put, Canadians need to know whether the country is on the major-league business bus or not.
