Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, announced that Canada's major investment tax credits are enabling Dow to build the world's first net-zero emissions ethylene cracker and derivatives site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. She was joined by the Chair and CEO of Dow, Jim Fitterling, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.
Dow and partner companies will invest more than C$11.5 billion to expand and retrofit its Fort Saskatchewan facility to become net-zero, which will significantly reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from its operations and create 400 to 500 permanent Canadians jobs, as well as up to 8,000 construction jobs at peak. To ensure Canadian workers get their fair share, labour requirements tied to Canada's investment tax credits will require the company to pay prevailing union wages and provide apprenticeship training opportunities in order to receive the maximum tax credit rates.
Dow will use carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology to reduce existing emissions, as well as to abate all new emissions resulting from the project's increased production capacity. Dow will also enhance its operations to produce clean hydrogen, which will be used as a clean fuel supply for the site's furnaces. Combined, these technologies will reduce emissions by approximately 1 million metric tonnes of CO2e per year. The implementation of these clean technologies will be supported by up to $400 million from Canada's Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage investment tax credit and Clean Hydrogen investment tax credit.
Today's announcement is yet another example of how the federal government's economic plan is creating good jobs for Canadian workers, and ensuring they lead the way as the global economy moves towards net-zero.
