Analysis Shows Renewables as the Fastest-Growing Sector in Canada’s Foreign Aid Spending Since 2015
Between 2016 and 2023, Canada’s expenditures in this category experienced an 87 percent increase compared to the total expenditures from 2008 to 2015 after adjusting for inflation.
Renewables Funding
Energy generation, distribution, and efficiency received $786 million in foreign aid funding in 2022–2023, comprising approximately 5 percent of the total aid funding.
Of this amount, renewable energy funding accounted for $555 million, with the remaining balance allocated towards administrative and educational initiatives, as well as small investments in electric transmission and distribution grids. Less than 1 percent of the funding was allocated to natural gas and nuclear energy sources.
Related Stories
The funding announced in 2021 will be directed towards four key areas: clean energy transition and coal phase-out, climate-smart agriculture and food systems, nature-based solutions and biodiversity, and climate governance.
Many of these focus areas are likely to be integrated into various aid categories.
Highest Jumps
The analysis conducted by The Epoch Times reveals that Canada’s total inflation-adjusted foreign aid significantly grew during the Trudeau years, totaling $69.7 billion from 2016 to 2023 compared to $55.9 billion from 2008 to 2015 in 2023 dollars.
Energy aid funding experienced an 87 percent increase in the eight years following 2015, surpassing the percentage change in categories such as refugee aid. In 2023 dollars, Canada spent $3.55 billion on energy-generation aid between 2016 and 2023 compared to $1.9 billion between 2008 and 2015.
Other aid expenditure categories, including refugee and asylum seeker costs, saw an 85 percent increase during the Trudeau government years, with total spending from 2016 to 2023 reaching $17.24 billion compared to $9.3 billion between 2008 and 2015 in 2023 dollars.
The funding allocated for different aid categories saw fluctuations, including multi-sector aid experiencing a 30 percent decrease in funding. Additional areas with a decrease in funding included transport and storage at 29 percent, and trade policy and regulations at 28 percent.
Foreign Aid
Canada’s total foreign aid spending in 2022-2023 amounted to $16 billion.
The majority of this spending was in the “other aid expenditures” category, primarily funding refugees and asylum seekers, accounting for 48 percent of total spending due to the war in Ukraine.
Health and humanitarian assistance were the next highest funded categories, with 11 percent and 8 percent of total aid expenditure respectively.
Other categories, such as energy generation, government and civil society, education, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and various other sectors, received allocations ranging from 3 to 5 percent of Canada’s total aid spending.
Categories with less than 3 percent of the total expenditure included conflict prevention, peace and security, environmental protection, banking and financial services, and various other sectors.
