Minister Wilkinson Champions Investments in Critical Minerals and Clean Energy

September 29, 2023                                                            Paris, France                                            Natural Resources Canada

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, was in Europe this week meeting with business leaders, international partners and international counterparts in London, U.K., and Paris, France, to attract investment to Canada in critical minerals and clean energy and to strengthen energy cooperation with like-minded allies.

This visit comes at a time when it is abundantly clear that the global community must come together to bring security to energy and resource supply chains and bridge the gap in the drive toward a shared vision for the net-zero economy of tomorrow.

While in Europe, Minister Wilkinson played a leadership role for Canada in leading the discussions on transparent, sustainable and responsible supply chains at the first-ever Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Summit hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA). He spoke at the high-level government–industry conference on Roadmaps to New Nuclear hosted by the Nuclear Energy Agency and France’s Ministry of Energy Transition.

Minister Wilkinson also:

●      Brought Indigenous, industry and financial sector leaders together in London and Paris through two investment forums to champion investment in Canadian critical minerals while highlighting the importance of Indigenous participation in projects that will advance the net-zero transition;

●      Announced the establishment of the Canada–France Dialogue on Critical Minerals with Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s Minister of Energy Transition, that will set out initiatives on investment promotion, research and development cooperation, and the promotion of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards;

●      Released Canada’s first Carbon Management Strategy alongside the Executive Director of the IEA, Dr. Fatih Birol, further demonstrating Canada’s leadership in the global shift toward a prosperous net-zero future;

●      Highlighted to his ministerial counterparts the opportunities for Canada and its supply chain to support international partners in meeting their climate and energy security objectives, underlining Canada’s recent announcement to support Romania’s plans to build two new Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) nuclear reactors at Cernavoda (units 3 and 4);

●      Encouraged other IEA member states to join the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance, while supporting alignment of the Alliance’s work with the work of international partners;

●      Endorsed a Joint Communique alongside ministerial counterparts during the NEA’s Roadmaps to New Nuclear conference, including with Ukraine’s Minister of Energy, reiterating the importance of enhanced international partnerships to diversifying and securing the global market for nuclear fuel, services and technologies; and

●      Further advanced cooperation on hydrogen, critical minerals and nuclear fuels to support natural resource investment and trade opportunities through bilateral and multilateral meetings with international counterparts.

Canada looks forward to building on this important work, serving as the Vice Chair for the IEA Ministerial in February 2024 and working with its partners in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates in November 2023.