Annual Survey of Environmental Goods and Services, 2019
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Released: 2021-05-05
Canadian businesses sold $18.9 billion worth of environmental and clean technology goods in 2019, while sales of related services amounted to $10.2 billion. If waste management services are included, the total revenue from sales of environmental and clean technology services rises to $18.5 billion. In terms of total revenue generated, the environmental and clean technology sector was comparable in size to the pulp, paper and paperboard mills manufacturing industry ($18.9 billion) in 2019.
The data were produced using the Survey of Environmental Goods and Services, which included several new categories of environmental and clean technology goods and services, compared with its 2018 predecessor.
The environmental and clean technology goods and services sector, like most others in the Canadian economy, was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the data in this release predate the pandemic, they will serve as an important benchmark to measure the full impact of the pandemic on the sector.
Environmental and clean technology goods
Revenue from sales of energy efficiency technologies accounted for almost one-third ($5.7 billion) of total sales of environmental and clean technology goods. Products in this category include high-efficiency industrial, commercial and residential equipment. Manufacturers of transportation technologies (fuel-efficient automotive and aerospace equipment) reported sales of $4.5 billion, up 19% (correction) from a year earlier, accounting for almost one-quarter (24%) of the total value of goods sold in Canada's clean technology sector in 2019.
Businesses selling products supporting the manufacture of bioenergy and biomaterials, including biofuels and bioproducts, reported sales of almost $2.0 billion in 2019.
Sales of equipment for renewable energy technologies supplying (for example) wind, solar, hydro power generation and nuclear energy projects totalled almost $1.8 billion.
Revenue from the sales of technologies for precision agriculture activities increased by almost one-quarter from 2018 to $1.3 billion in 2019.
In 2019, Ontario businesses sold almost $7.0 billion worth of environmental and clean technology goods manufactured in Canada, the most of any province. Quebec businesses were second, at just under $5.0 billion in sales. Together, these two provinces accounted for almost two-thirds of all domestically manufactured environmental and clean technology goods sold in 2019.
In Ontario, sales of energy efficiency technologies accounted for one-third ($2.3 billion) of the province's total sales of environmental and clean technology goods. In Quebec, sales of transportation technologies ($1.5 billion) accounted for almost one-third of the provincial total ($5.0 billion).
Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined ($2.4 billion), British Columbia ($2.3 billion), and Alberta ($1.6 billion) followed in terms of sales of environmental and clean technology goods.
Environmental and clean technology services
Sales by Canadian businesses providing environmental and clean technology services increased by 34% in 2019.
Companies providing clean energy services, such as wind, geothermal, hydro, solar and nuclear energy, generated almost $2.5 billion in domestic and export sales in 2019. Site remediation and emergency environmental services generated almost $2.4 billion in revenue.
New in 2019, environmental consulting data from firms providing services such as environmental assessments and audits are presented within the category for which these services were carried out (for instance, site remediation or monitoring services and environmental emergency response services, water management and efficiency services, and energy efficiency services).
Ontario firms reported the highest sales in clean energy services ($1.2 billion), up 81% from a year earlier. They also had the highest sales of energy efficiency services (over $900 million), with sales rising almost 40% year over year.
The new sustainable resource services category (formerly precision agriculture services) was modified for 2019 to include precision agriculture, bioproduct and sustainable forestry services. British Columbia firms accounted for over half (55%, or $439 million) of total domestic sales of sustainable resource services in Canada ($792 million).
Exports and employment in the environmental and clean technology sector
Canadian businesses reported exporting over $7.0 billion worth of environmental and clean technology goods and services in 2019, with two-thirds ($4.8 billion) destined for the United States. The remainder was distributed among other international markets.
Together, Ontario ($2.7 billion) and Quebec ($2.5 billion) businesses exported $5.2 billion worth of environmental and clean technology goods and services in 2019. This accounted for almost 70% of all Canadian exports in this sector. Of this total, over $3.3 billion worth of goods and services went to clients in the United States. Saskatchewan and Manitoba sold $955 million worth of environmental and clean technology goods and services to international clients.
In 2019, environmental and clean technology industries provided employment for almost 127,000 people in Canada. The waste management industry alone employed over 40,000 people in full- and part-time positions. In comparison, during this period, environmental and clean technology industries employed more people than the oil and gas extraction (55,853), mining and quarrying (except oil and gas) (71,446), and support activities for mining, and oil and gas extraction (73,154) industries.
In 2019, over 32,000 people held environmental and clean technology positions in Ontario, while over 18,000 people were employed in this sector in Quebec. Again, the waste management industry accounted for a sizable portion of this workforce, with over 15,000 people in full- and part-time positions in Ontario in 2019, and over 7,000 in Quebec.
Note to readers
Clean technology
These data are derived from the Survey of Environmental Goods and Services (SEGS), except the data on waste management services revenue and employment, which are based on the Waste Management Industry Survey.
Compared with previous reference years, the 2019 SEGS provides an expanded picture of the clean technology sector in Canada, as the scope of its content and target industries was broadened. The more comprehensive estimates produced in 2019 build upon previous cycles and are part of a five-year plan to improve the data supporting and profiling Canada's clean technology sector.
Clean technologies are defined as follows:
- any good or service designed with the primary purpose of contributing to remediating or preventing any type of environmental damage
- any good or service that is less polluting or more resource-efficient than equivalent normal products that furnish a similar utility; their primary use, however, is not one of environmental protection.
The survey captures revenue from several areas of Canada's growing clean technology sector. A comprehensive measure of clean technology sales in Canada's economy is available through Statistics Canada's Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account (ECTPEA), of which the SEGS is one of several components. The ECTPEA captures all economy-wide transactions in the clean technology sector, such as clean energy and scrap metals, while the SEGS produces data on a clearly specified subset of goods and services that are narrower in scope than those captured in the ECTPEA.
Several changes to the survey questions and sampling strategy were made in 2019. New content was added to capture the revenue from a broader suite of environmental and clean technology goods and services. In addition, the number of North American Industry Classification System groups used to define Canada's clean technology sector was increased. For this reason, comparison of the 2019 estimates with earlier SEGS estimates should be done with caution. This is particularly the case with the new category-specific estimates.
Contact information
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