Today, Environment and Climate Change Canada launched engagement on changes to the minimum national stringency standards for industrial carbon pricing, known as the federal benchmark criteria. Feedback received will help inform changes to the federal benchmark in 2026 to ensure that all industrial carbon pricing systems in Canada drive emission reductions and provide certainty for investments in decarbonization while enabling our companies to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
Climate action is not just a moral obligation-it is an economic imperative. As global markets accelerate toward cleaner production, Canada's climate competitiveness will become increasingly important. Industrial carbon pricing is a key pillar of Budget 2025's Climate Competitiveness Strategy. It gives large industrial emitters an incentive to reduce emissions that cause climate change while keeping their costs low to protect against the risk of carbon leakage.
Well-designed carbon markets create opportunities for Canadian businesses to generate revenues from investing in cleaner production while ensuring the long-term value of those investments. Pollution pricing and other climate policies are creating strong demand for innovative clean technologies in Canada, which helps attract new job opportunities, new investments, and new products and lines of business for Canadian companies. Canada's clean technology industry continues to be a driver for economic activity, contributing $40.6 billion to Canada's gross domestic product (GDP) and more than 224,000 jobs to the economy in 2023.
Canada's Climate Competitiveness Strategy is not only about reducing emissions-it is about building a resilient economy, creating good jobs, protecting affordability for Canadians, and securing our place as a leader in the global clean energy transition. Through clear, predictable, and long-term policies, we are giving Canadian investors certainty to build and positioning our industries to compete and win.
Our actions to strengthen carbon markets and drive innovation will support long-term prosperity. Independent studies show that industrial carbon pricing is the lowest-cost way to cut emissions while having virtually no impact on families.
The Government of Canada recognizes that industrial carbon markets are essential to meeting our shared economic and environmental ambitions and will continue to collaborate closely with provinces and territories to realize this vision for a sustainable and prosperous future.
