The Government of Canada is currently conducting a short 8-minute survey to learn more about the challenges Canadian firms face and what's needed to support success. Your input will provide tangible actions for how government, industry and others can strengthen the cleantech sector.
Your privacy is a priority – all responses will remain anonymous and only aggregated results will be shared publicly. Share your insights and help strengthen the future of Canada's cleantech sector!
On this page
Overview
The Clean Technology Data Strategy (CTDS) provides the latest information to measure the economic, environmental and social contributions of the cleantech sector in Canada.
The following data tools are based on information provided by Statistics Canada on Canada's environmental and cleantech sector:
GDP and trade
This dashboard illustrates gross domestic product and international trade values in Canada's environmental and cleantech sector by province and territory (2012-2021).
Employment
This dashboard illustrates jobs in Canada's environmental and cleantech sector by province and territory (2012-2021).
Labour force characteristics
This dashboard illustrates key labour characteristics such as education level, indigenous identity, and immigration status broken down by gender and age group in Canada's environmental and cleantech sector in 2019.
Environmental protection expenditures
This dashboard illustrates the amount of capital and operating spending on environmental protection activities by Canadian businesses in 2019.
Cleantech companies
This dashboard provides an overview of the number of Canadian pure-play cleantech companies split by industry and province.
International Trade Flow
This dashboard illustrates international trade flows for Canadian environmental and cleantech products by trading partner (2012-2021).
Federal investment
This page provides an overview of federal funding support for clean technology projects between 2016 and 2022.
Cleantech goods and services
Cleantech goods and services are offered by a broad range of Canadian companies and span all sectors of the economy. Tracking these activities is essential to understand Canada's contribution to clean growth and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The Government of Canada defines clean technology as:
- Any good or service designed with the primary purpose of contributing to remediating or preventing any type of environmental damage.
- Any good or service that is less polluting or more resource efficient than equivalent normal products that furnish a similar utility.
The following taxonomy represents the suite of products that are considered to be clean technologies by the Government of Canada:
Cleantech infographic (PDF, 556 KB)
Text version
What is cleantech?
Air, environment and remediation
- emission control; monitoring and compliance; management or treatment or industrial services for air pollution, flue gas, and GHG management
- in situ and ex situ physical, chemical, biological, and thermal treatment of soil, sediment, and sludge
- noise and vibration abatement
- environmental protection activities
- protection from radiation
Water and wastewater
- treatment of industrial wastewater; treatment of sewage; waste water management
- in and ex situ physical, chemical, and biological treatment of groundwater, surface water, and leachate
- control, containment, and monitoring services; treatment of air emissions or off-gases
- treatment of drinking water and filtration systems
- water efficiency; measurement and control of water use; water recycling
Waste and recycling
- non-hazardous waste collection
- separating and sorting
- disposal
- recycling
- compaction
- centralized biological reprocessing and composters
Biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts
- biofuel production
- bioenergy production
- equipment for producing biofuels and bioproducts
- biochemicals
- biomaterials
Renewable and non-emitting energy supply
- wind
- bioenergy
- geothermal
- hydro
- solar
- nuclear
- waste to energy
Smart grid and energy storage
- smart grid demand management
- transmission and distribution
- mechanical storage
- electrochemical storage
- electrical storage
- thermal storage
- hybrid storage
- energy storage services
Energy efficiency
- energy and resource-efficient modifications and improvements
- measurement controls and monitoring
- industrial design and related services
- efficient industrial equipment
- efficient commercial and residential equipment
Precision agriculture, forestry, and biodiversity
- precision inputs
- machinery and equipment
- aquaculture
- wild flora and fauna management
- sustainable forestry
Mining, processing, materials, manufacturing and industry
- minerals use
- green mining and processing
- advanced and lightweight materials
Transportation
- fuel-efficient automotive equipment
- fuel-efficient aerospace equipment
- infrastructure and traffic control
Additional details can be found in the technical reference guide.
Analysis
To support understanding of the data generated by the Clean Technology Data Strategy, we will regularly post updated analysis on the data here. Stay tuned!
For additional cleantech data analysis, see Statistics Canada's The Daily article on the Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account (ECTPEA) 2020.
Data releases
The Clean Technology Data Strategy consists of the following data products published by Statistics Canada:
- The Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account (ECTPEA) provides information on the economic impact of cleantech and environmental products by measuring its share of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Other economic variables, such as exports, imports and output, are also measured.
- The Survey of Environmental Goods and Services (SEGS) collects data on sales and exports of environmental and cleantech goods and services in order to estimate their production nationally and by province or territory. Data are also collected to produce estimates of employment associated with the production of environmental and cleantech goods and services.
- The Environmental Protection Expenditures Survey (EPES) collects data from companies to provide national and regional estimates of capital and operating expenditures on environmental protection and resource management activities, as well as drivers and obstacles for their purchase. Information from this survey serves as an important indicator of Canadian investment in environmental protection.
- The Natural Resources Satellite Account (NRSA) provides the same economic variables as ECTPEA, but for the natural resources sectors, including energy, mining and forestry.
- The Human Resource Module (HRM) for the NRSA and ECTPEA provides information on age, sex, education level, occupation and full-time/part-time, immigration and Indigenous status of workers in the natural resources, environmental and cleantech sectors.
Upcoming releases
- October 2023: Release of ECTPEA HRM RY 2021
- December 2023: Release of ECTPEA RY 2022
- March 2024: Release of EPES RY 2021
Past releases
- April 2023: Release of SEGS RY 2021
- March 2023: Release of EPES reference year RY 2020
- December 2022: Release of ECTPEA RY 2021
- April 2022: Release of ECTPEA HRM RY 2020
- March 2022: Release of EPES RY 2019
- March 2022: Release of SEGS RY 2020
- January 2022: Release of ECTPEA RY 2020
About us
Clean Technology Data Strategy
Cleantech activity in Canada contributes to clean growth and the transition to a low-carbon economy. It provides environmental solutions to such issues as climate change, air and water pollution, and resource scarcity. Clean technologies also contribute to economic growth and diversification by increasing access to international markets and creating well-paying jobs for Canadians.
The economic and environmental impacts of clean technologies in Canada can be difficult to measure, as cleantech activity cuts across all major economic sectors. The CTDS aims to ensure that data is readily available to understand the economic and environmental contribution of cleantech in Canada.
Established in 2017, the CTDS is a joint initiative, led by Natural Resources Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and the Clean Growth Hub, that supports the collection of data and regular reporting on cleantech activity. Better data strengthens the evidence base for decisions, improves understanding of the emerging cleantech landscape and ensures the creation of impactful policies and programs to support the production and adoption of clean technologies.
Components of the CTDS
There are three main components in the Strategy and ongoing engagement with key partners:
Component 1, development and dissemination of authoritative clean technology statistics, led by Statistics Canada
Expand the collection and production of statistics and macroeconomic indicators on the clean technology economy.
Component 2, leveraging industry data, led by Natural Resources Canada
Leverage public information to gather company-level data on the cleantech industry in Canada and conduct surveys to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by cleantech companies.
Component 3, leveraging administrative data, led by Clean Growth Hub
Use existing administrative data to track impacts of government programs that support clean technology.
Ongoing engagement with key partners
Provincial and territorial, federal and industry partners are engaged on an ongoing basis so that outputs of the CTDS will respond to current and emerging information needs.
Contact us
To submit questions on data provided by the CTDS or provide feedback on this website, please reach out to us using the following contact form.