Action on Climate Change

Our government recognizes that climate change is real. 

COVID-19 has shown us how Canadians have what it takes to come together, to mobilize, and to act in the face of a crisis. The climate crisis is just as great a challenge. Climate change is the challenge of our times, and it is also one of our greatest opportunities. Our climate action plan creates new opportunities for engineers, scientists, farmers, construction workers, tradespeople, resource workers, energy workers, researchers, and more. Since 2015, Canada has invested roughly $60 billion toward climate action and clean growth. In 2020, we announced an additional investment of $15 billion for Canada’s strengthened climate plan, along with nearly $15 billion for public transit in February 2021. Building on these recent investments, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $17.6 billion towards a green recovery to create jobs, build a clean economy, and meet our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Budget 2021 proposes to: 

• Provide $4.4 billion on a cash basis to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to help homeowners complete deep home retrofits through interest-free loans worth up to $40,000. This program will also include a dedicated stream of funding to support low- income homeowners and rental properties serving low-income renters, including cooperatives and not-for-profit owned housing. It is estimated that more than 200,000 households would take advantage of this opportunity.
•  Provide $5 billion over seven years (cash basis), to the Net Zero Accelerator.  This funding would allow the government to provide up to $8 billion of support for projects that will help reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions across the Canadian economy. 

• Reduce—by 50 per cent—the general corporate and small business income tax rates for businesses that manufacture zero-emission technologies. The reductions would go into effect on January 1, 2022, and would be gradually phased out starting January 1, 2029 and eliminated by January 1, 2032. 
• Provide $200 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Infrastructure Canada to establish a Natural Infrastructure Fund to support natural and hybrid infrastructure projects. This would help to improve well-being, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and prevent costly natural events.