Experts highlight areas where both can combine their complementary strengths

Improving relations between Canada and China could open new opportunities for clean energy cooperation, with businesses and experts highlighting electric vehicles, energy storage and critical minerals as areas where the two countries' strengths could complement each other.

The Canada China Business Council is organizing a Canadian Cleantech Mission to China in November, said Bijan Ahmadi, executive director and chief operating officer of the council.

"The mission grew out of increasing interest from Canadian clean-technology companies seeking opportunities in China's rapidly expanding low-carbon economy," Ahmadi said.

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Canadian companies often have specialized technologies and expertise, while China offers manufacturing capacity, investment capital and experience deploying clean technologies at scale, he said.

"The renewed Canada-China strategic partnership, with its focus on energy, clean technology and climate competitiveness, provides additional momentum for this engagement," he said.

The mission will help companies understand the Chinese market, meet commercial and investment partners and identify potential projects, he added.

"It is intended to turn broad interest in clean technology cooperation into direct business relationships and commercially viable opportunities," he said.

Jiang Wenran, founding director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta and president of the Canada-China Energy and Environment Forum, said the two countries already have several footholds for cooperation that could lay the groundwork for deeper engagement in clean energy.

PetroChina holds a 15 percent equity stake in LNG Canada, while Chinese battery maker CATL has taken part in three large-scale grid storage projects in Ontario. Chinese company Envision Energy has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement for a 300-megawatt wind-plus-storage demonstration project in Nova Scotia Province, Jiang said.

"These are footholds, not flagship portfolios — but footholds in exactly the right sectors," he said.

Electric vehicles could become one of the most visible areas of renewed cooperation.

Canada's new market access framework allows up to 49,000 Chinese EVs annually to enter the country at the lower tariff rate. Ahmadi said the framework could increase the availability of more affordable EVs for Canadian consumers.

"The larger opportunity is to encourage joint ventures and localized investment in Canada," he said, pointing to potential cooperation in vehicle and component manufacturing, battery systems, charging infrastructure, and automotive software, among other areas.

Jiang said the "deeper level" is joint-venture manufacturing on Canadian soil.

Beyond EVs, both experts underscored a broader division of strengths across the clean energy supply chain. "China is a global leader in batteries and energy storage, electric mobility, solar and wind power, and grid technologies," Ahmadi said.

"Canada brings specialized capabilities in carbon capture, utilization and storage; water and wastewater treatment; land and environmental remediation; waste-to-energy; industrial decarbonization; and materials recovery and recycling."

'Concrete example'

Civil nuclear energy is another established area, Ahmadi said, with Canadian companies supporting the refurbishment and longer-term operation of CANDU reactors in China, providing "a concrete example of sustained Canada-China clean-energy collaboration".

Jiang said energy storage, offshore wind, green hydrogen, civil nuclear energy and uranium trade could provide additional opportunities.

Critical minerals could offer another area of complementarity. Canada has significant reserves of lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper, while China has built extensive capabilities in battery manufacturing and clean energy supply chains.

The potential benefits, the experts said, could extend beyond commercial ties between the two countries.

"The global energy transition requires both technological innovation and the ability to deploy solutions rapidly and affordably," Ahmadi said.

Canada brings a strong scientific and research ecosystem, clean energy resources, and expertise in specialized environmental and emissions-reduction technologies, while China brings manufacturing scale, investment capacity, and extensive experience deploying batteries and renewable energy, he said.

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"Combining those strengths can reduce technology costs, accelerate commercialization and make low-carbon solutions more accessible in both countries and in third markets," he said.

Jiang said such cooperation could also have broader geopolitical and climate effects.

"A successful 'Canadian resources plus Chinese manufacturing' model demonstrates to the Global South that resource-rich nations need not choose between Western capital and Chinese technology — they can integrate both," he said.

"In short, the Canada-China clean energy partnership has the potential to become a template for South-North climate cooperation, not merely a bilateral commercial arrangement," he added.

Contact the writers at gaoyang@chinadailyusa.com