Clean Technology and Business Innovation /

As the world shifts to a low carbon economy, clean innovation represents a significant and growing market opportunity across Canada’s economy. It is also critical to meeting our climate and environmental goals cost effectively. Yet it is well established in the literature that clean innovation poses unique challenges; it faces market failures and barriers beyond those encountered by innovation writ large – especially the failure of markets to pay for reductions in pollution and most environmental harm (they are an ‘externality’). Clean innovation therefore requires both more and different types of government support, using a range of tools – including, in particular, public policies (pricing, regulations, and incentives) and targeted procurement programs that can ‘pull’ market demand. Without these kinds of strong policies to stimulate demand, other types of government investment and support programs for clean innovation will be much less effective.