Carney's Investment Summit Pitches Clean Energy Alongside $100B in Oil and Gas Projects

Prime Minister Mark Carney's two-day investment summit in Toronto wrapped up this week with a mixed message for clean-energy advocates: the deal book featured dozens of wind, solar, grid-upgrade and energy-storage projects, but it also included $35 billion-plus for a West Coast oil pipeline and $28.5 billion for the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal. According to CBC News, climate advocacy group Stand.earth estimates the summit's deal book contains $100 billion in new oil and gas projects that Carney is seeking investment in.

The summit brought 100 of the world's biggest investors to Toronto as Carney tries to attract foreign capital amid the escalating U.S. trade war. While proposed fossil-fuel projects dominated headlines, energy storage, grid upgrades, nuclear projects and renewables were all present in the deal book. David Pickup, director of the electricity program at the Pembina Institute, noted that clean energy investment is now roughly double that of fossil investment globally, citing Forbes reporting.

What the clean-energy numbers actually mean

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) estimates there is now 25 gigawatts of installed solar, wind and energy-storage capacity in Canada — a more than 50 per cent increase since 2020. That is enough to power about 18 million homes. CanREA is also tracking another 24 gigawatts that provinces are looking to procure in the future. CanREA president Vittoria Bellissimo called the summit an important signal that Canadian infrastructure is a stable investment, and estimated the total opportunity at $200 billion.

But the federal government's own electricity plan — Powering Canada Strong, announced in May — aims to double electricity generation throughout the country by 2050 using clean sources. Pickup said the investment summit's clean-energy projects are positive signs, but investment alone will not be enough. The government also needs strong policies that drive both future supply and demand for clean electricity, including an electric-vehicle strategy that shifts transportation from gasoline to the grid.

The EV connection

• More electrons, not just more cars. Canada's electricity system must roughly double by 2050 if EV adoption is to deliver genuine emissions cuts rather than simply shifting tailpipe pollution to coal- or gas-fired generators.
• Grid upgrades are the bottleneck. CanREA's 24 GW pipeline of future procurements will require new transmission lines and distribution upgrades that take years to permit and build.
• Carbon pricing rollback undermines demand. Carney's cancellation of the consumer carbon tax removes the price signal that would otherwise push buyers toward EVs and heat pumps.
• Canada is 20+ years behind. The Canadian Climate Institute says that on its current course, Canada's emissions in 2050 will be 460 megatonnes of carbon rather than the net-zero goal enshrined in law.

Over 1,000 protesters demonstrated outside the summit, with environmentalist David Suzuki telling CBC that a financial system that does not see the environment as the source of its wealth is doomed. The tension between the summit's fossil-fuel projects and its clean-energy aspirations encapsulates the central challenge for Canadian EV policy: without a credible cap on oil-and-gas expansion, even the most ambitious charger build-out and EV purchase incentives will not put Canada on a net-zero trajectory.

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