In 2019, businesses spent $1.7 billion on in-house energy-related R&D in Canada, virtually unchanged from 2018. Total in-house spending on R&D in Canada was $21.7 billion.
Energy-related R&D is an important element towards the establishment of a low-carbon economy, to meet Canada's goals in confronting climate change, developing clean energy solutions, increasing energy access, reducing air pollution and approaching net-zero emissions. Energy-related and overall R&D expenditure in Canadian industry can be further explored using the interactive data visualization dashboard: Characteristics of research and development in Canadian industry.
Since 2015, in-house energy-related R&D has grown 6%. However, its share of total in-house R&D has remained steady at around 8% to 9%, after dropping from a high of 12% in 2014. This was mainly due to the decline in fossil fuel R&D, which reflected the sharp drop in world oil prices.