GDP and trade in Canada's environmental and clean technology sector

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Gross domestic product

  • The environmental and clean technology (ECT) products sector contributed almost $81 billion to the Canadian economy and accounted for 3.0% of Canada's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023. The production of environmental goods and services accounted for $40.2 billion of GDP while approximately $40.6 billion was attributable to the production of clean technology goods and services.
  • Real GDP generated by the ECT sector in 2023 decreased by 1%, but remained above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels for the third consecutive year.
  • Ontario was the largest contributor to ECT sector GDP in 2023, accounting for 34.5% of the national total, followed by Quebec (28.4%), British Columbia (14.3%), and Alberta (9.9%).

Trade

  • Canada continued to be a net importer of ECT products in 2023, with the volume of ECT product imports and exports valued at $29.3 billion and $19.7 billion, respectively. On its own, the clean technology products category accounted for $20.9 billion worth of imports, while exports were valued at $9.4 billion. By comparison, environmental products represented $8.4 billion worth of imports and $10.3 billion worth of exports.
  • Manufactured goods accounted for 65.3% of imports in the ECT products sector in 2023. Manufactured goods accounted for more than one third (36.1%) of all exports in 2023, followed by waste and scrap goods for recycling (23.7%) and clean electricity (16.7%).
  • In 2023, importation of ECT products decreased by 3%, after growing for two consecutive years. Year-over-year ECT exports decreased by 5.3% in 2023.  
  • In order, Ontario ($9.8 billion), Quebec ($3.5 billion) and British Columbia ($2.9 billion) ranked as the three top ECT exporting provinces. Similarly, these provinces also ranked top-three in ECT imports, with Ontario leading with $12.6 billion in total imports.

Text version

This interactive dashboard presents current and historical gross domestic product and international trade values in Canada's environmental and clean technology products sector.

The data used to create this interactive dashboard can be found in the following tables:

How to use this tool
  • Use the menu at the top left of the tool to customize the data presented in the tool.
  • More detail is available by hovering over the data points or bars within each chart.
  • Additional options can be accessed by clicking on the three dots that appear in the top right corner of a chart when you hover over the chart's title, including options to:
    • export the data in either .xlsx or .csv format;
    • presents the data in a table format; and/or
    • sort the data in different ways.
  • Keyboard shortcuts and screen reader tips:
    • Keyboard shortcuts and screen reader tips are available by entering the visual and pressing CTRL + Enter.
    • While in the visual, pressing SHIFT + "?" will open the keyboard shortcuts.
    • When focus is on a visual, the data table can be displayed by pressing ALT + SHIFT + F11.
  • For information on symbol legend please visit the Standard table symbols legend.
 

Additional information

  • Totals may not add due to rounding.
  • Distributions of totals are compiled using current dollars. Growth rates are compiled using constant dollars.
  • Provincial / territorial imports data are produced on a customs basis, meaning that data represents the goods cleared for entry into Canada at different customs offices across the country, which may not be the province / territory into which the goods physically entered the country, or the province / territory in which the goods are ultimately consumed.
  • The web-based application is updated annually, following the release of data for the latest reference period by Statistics Canada in The Daily.

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