Earlier today, I gave a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on Canada’s opportunity to build an energy sector that’s ready for the 2030s and beyond. In it, I outlined four actions that we need to take together as a country to position Canada as a global leader in the transition to low-carbon energy. You can read the full speech here or read on for some of the highlights of what I said…

Our country is more divided than it should be, between provinces and between regions, and we won’t reach our goals if we don’t work together. Because now is a critical time for Canada – a moment when a huge opportunity for our energy industry is coinciding with a data-driven revolution. In order for us to capitalize on this opportunity to build a more environmentally and economically sustainable energy sector that’s ready for the 2030s and beyond, our energy sector needs support.

We believe that climate change is the most pressing issue of our age – driving the economies of countries, affecting migration of people, impacting our food, and contributing to political volatility around the world.

At the same time, the latest advancements in A.I. and big data are poised to shape the next hundred years of our planet. The World Economic Forum estimates that this digital transformation will create value for society and industry worth $100 trillion by the middle of the 2020s.

Machine learning research centres in Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal have attracted international attention and investment. And our country’s ability to extract and refine that other raw material – data – is driving industries to search for new areas of growth, and vastly improving the customer experience. Yet, for all the outstanding examples being used within the energy industry there’s potential to do more. And this is where we need to see oil and natural gas as the new data. They are the commodities that can fuel all sorts of innovation.

I believe we have a historic opportunity to build a world-leading technology centre in Calgary that can transform Canada’s energy sector and also help the world transition, smartly and sustainably, to a lower-carbon economy. If we invest strategically – in tech and the talent that will power it – we have the chance to transform our flagship industry.

And that means turning Calgary’s Bow Valley into a new Silicon Valley.

A new report from RBC Economics estimates that a careful, but ambitious approach to growth in this sector could add another 1.1% to our GDP. That would be like adding an entire auto sector. Oil and gas production already essentially pays for 10% of our nation’s health care costs; the report estimates that Canadian governments could earn another $195 billion in revenues between now and 2030, with the right kind of development. And with more advances in technology, the sector can reasonably reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by a third.

A technology-led transformation of our energy sector means changing the way we produce, ship and consume traditional energy. And the ultimate goal is gaining an economic and environmental dividend for decades to come.

The way we address climate change and at the same time maintain a fair and level playing field for our energy sector is critical.

Because a decade from now, as we approach 2030, oil and gas consumption will be 10 percent higher than today. This remains true no matter what Canada does as a country – and will be driven by Asia’s rapidly-developing economies, particularly in India and China. We are one of a handful of producers capable of meeting this new demand sustainably and responsibly. We also need to appreciate that domestic energy use is reaching a plateau and there are limited opportunities to export coal, nuclear and renewables. So Canada needs to sell more oil and gas if we want to ensure we maintain and grow our share of the global energy market.

But standing in our way are high operating costs, including regulatory and permitting costs, and higher emissions. We simply don’t derive as much as we should from our resources. Our heavier crude is more expensive to extract, transport and refine. Most of our resources are landlocked. And we’ve run out of pipeline capacity.

To ensure Canada’s energy industry becomes cleaner, more efficient and more cost-competitive, industry and government must ramp up investments in new and innovative energy technologies. The kind that the rest of the world can adopt, and even buy from us.

The energy sector and government stakeholders in Alberta are moving in the right direction, looking to derive more royalty money, diversify economically, compete with U.S. exports and reduce emissions.

As a country, we should double down on those efforts for clean resource innovation, and ensure a reasonable share of those growing royalties are invested in new technologies that can make Canada a global leader in sustainable energy, including oil and gas.

But to ensure our energy industry is in position to profit and meet demand – now and in the future – we need to address those competitiveness and emissions challenges. These are the four actions that I believe we need to take.

First, we need smarter regulations. Our regulatory complexity is slowing us down and it’s costing us. Other model economies, like Norway, Australia and the U.K., are all much faster than us to launch projects – with no evidence that they’re less responsible to their communities or environment. As we move forward, we need to focus on a system with reasonable guard-rails on consultations and reviews, which also provides incentives for clean energy innovation.

Second, we need to create a level-playing field and a fiscal environment that is competitive on the world stage. At RBC, we continue to support the principle of revenue-neutral carbon pricing. However we’re concerned that too much has floated into general government spending, rather than be invested in cleaner and more competitive energy production. We also support fiscal incentives such as a capital cost allowance for new investments in energy innovation, and tax credits for new investments in start-up firms targeting clean tech.

We need better market access. The announcement of the $40 billion LNG complex should be just the beginning of a new chapter of clean and sustainable energy infrastructure projects. But this has been an exception in recent years. To attract investors back and get our oil and gas to market faster and more efficiently, we need to continue to be bold and push forward on energy infrastructure.

And finally, it all comes back to technology. We have the institutions in place, but now need to ensure more funding from royalties and carbon levies are reinvested into this work. We need to ask ourselves, how can we be more ambitious and build an ecosystem that encourages energy producers to become early adopters of advanced clean technologies?

Canadian leaders – both federally and provincially – need to talk up one of our greatest exports and convince the globe that we are open for business. That means credibly branding Canadian oil and gas on the world stage as an industry with the reserves and capacity to ramp up production, as well as a reputation for strong labour protections and production that is ethical, efficient and sustainable.

While it would be easy to sit back and simply reap this windfall of royalties, tax revenue and economic growth, failing to invest strongly in the future would leave Canadians and our energy industry inadequately prepared for what comes next.

This is Canada’s chance to position itself as a global leader in the transition to low-carbon energy. And help ensure our country remains strong, prosperous and sustainable for generations to come.