The Honourable Tim Hodgson G7 Remarks: IEA Energy Innovation Forum Keynote Address

October 29, 2025

Good morning and welcome to Toronto.

It is a privilege to welcome you to this year’s International Energy Agency Energy Innovation Forum — a gathering of thinkers, doers and builders shaping the future of energy.

Let me begin by thanking Dr. Birol and the IEA for choosing Canada to host this forum and for continuing to champion the belief that innovation will play a critical role to enable a faster and more affordable transition to a secure, sustainable energy sector.

Toronto feels like the perfect place to have this conversation. This city — which I call home — is a microcosm of what energy innovation should look like: diverse, dynamic, entrepreneurial and connected to the world. I hope being here today inspires you to drive progress forward, and deepen collaboration across international lines.

We are gathered today at a turning point.

Energy markets are being reshaped by geopolitical conflict, technological revolutions and the accelerating drive toward net zero. Citizens of the world require secure and affordable access to energy, investors are seeking clarity and confidence to deploy capital, and governments are working to deliver both climate ambition and economic growth.

I believe this encompasses the defining challenges of our generation: how to align innovation with inclusion, technological advancement with trust and economic competitiveness with climate responsibility.

Canada’s messaging entering the G7 Energy and Environment Ministerial Meeting tomorrow is that we can do this if we work together. That prosperity, security and sustainability are not competing goals but mutually reinforcing opportunities we must capture for our citizens.

This is not a brand new idea. In fact, it was in many ways first born in the G7’s response to the energy crises of the 1970s. But it remains as relevant as ever — if not more.

In this hinge moment, it is hard to think of a more crucial topic for the world than energy innovation. In moments of rapid change, energy innovation can be the backbone of prosperity, security and climate credibility. For Canada, it is how we keep the lights on through our harsh winter, how we aim to power the AI data centres we want to build responsibly and how we will deliver reliable power to industry and manufacturing while meeting our climate commitments.

Innovation is not only about inventing new technology but also about scaling what works, faster, with lower cost and lower risk while maintaining public trust.

Canada’s innovation ambition is straightforward: build the most reliable, affordable low-carbon energy system in the world and export the know-how, technology and resources that make it possible to strengthen economic opportunity for Canada and our allies.

We will lead by building modern, integrated and flexible grids that can move clean electrons where they’re needed, when they’re needed.

We will lead by rapidly building new low-carbon power generation through nuclear plant life extensions and small modular reactors, responsibly developed natural gas with abatement and the integration of grid-scale storage in our system.

We will lead by working with the private sector to accelerate electrification for vehicles, buildings and industry while supporting the fuels and feedstocks — like clean hydrogen and sustainable biofuels — necessary to transform heavy transport and hard-to-abate sectors.

Domestically, we are focusing on three levers.

First, creating an environment of regulatory certainty, which requires predictable policies, faster timelines and reliable permitting. We are working with provinces, territories, Indigenous partners, utilities and regulators to cut timelines without cutting corners — because speed and integrity must travel together.

Second, the use of financial tools that crowd in private capital: tactically using public dollars; de-risking first-of-a-kind projects; supporting supply chains that provide critical inputs for important industries; and backing industrial decarbonization so our economy stays competitive and Canadian products compete — and win — on a low-carbon premium.

For example, this morning with NorthX Climate Tech — an Canadian organization supported by NRCan focused on accelerating clean energy breakthroughs — we highlighted $3.4 million for four emerging carbon dioxide removal technology ventures: CarbonRun, pHathom, Skyrenu and NULIFE Greentech, several of which are in this room.

We also announced that an early NorthX investee, Arca, has now signed one of the world’s largest CDR offtake deals with Microsoft — an example of Canadian clean tech that benefited from a strategic injection of seed capital at the outset and has now scaled up to become a serious global player, creating jobs and bringing financial growth back home to Canada.

This speaks to a particular success and ongoing focus of the Government of Canada in carbon management — a crucially important energy innovation. Beyond typical government funding to spur carbon management innovation, we have set up a first-of-its-kind-in-Canada CCUS Investment Tax Credit. Along with the full suite of other Clean Economy Investment Tax Credits — which apply to industries like clean manufacturing, technology, electricity and hydrogen — the CCUS ITC is playing an essential role in attracting investment, supporting Canadian innovation, creating jobs and driving Canada’s economy toward net zero by 2050.

To build on the momentum created by the ITC and other federal support, I am also announcing over $11 million for CCUS technology companies in Newfoundland and Quebec that will assess storage potential and scaling carbon mineralization that locks away CO₂ while helping recover critical metals.

Now, I will return to the third lever we are focused on: data and digital. From high-resolution resource mapping to grid digitalization and AI-enabled operations, we are turning Canada’s energy data into a strategic asset with targeted public investments that catalyze the private sector to do more, faster.

That brings me to where Canada sees the next frontier of energy innovation: the intersection of AI and energy. Because if energy powered the first industrial revolution and data powered the second revolution, then AI and intelligence will power the next revolution, with the integration of data, machine learning and human ingenuity across every part of the energy system.

AI is already reshaping how we produce, move and consume energy. It is helping operators predict grid demand in real time, accelerating materials discovery for better batteries and optimizing renewable energy like wind farms.

But AI’s real potential is not just in individual use cases. It is also in the ability to learn from millions of data points across sectors; to simulate years of R&D in hours; and to link innovation ecosystems that have historically worked in isolation. At its best, AI will make our energy systems smarter, faster and more resilient — reducing waste, improving reliability and freeing up human capacity for creative problem solving.

Yet we also know that with new power comes new responsibility.

The future of economic prosperity and security will be determined by AI and Quantum. From healthcare to defence to public services, they will transform how government serves Canadians. Canada and our G7 allies to secure their place as pioneering leaders in both fields and to build on our competitive advantages in research, talent and energy. Canada will do its part, and more.

Speaking of energy, AI will shape not just how we generate and store energy but also how we govern it. This includes how we manage data sovereignty, protect privacy and ensure that these systems serve the public good, not just private interests.

That is why Canada is taking deliberate steps to ensure trustworthy, affordable and energy-efficient AI is baked into how we move forward, not simply added as an afterthought. We intend to share this work with our allies.

This is why in the G7 discussions tomorrow and Friday, Canada will use our Presidency to advance a shared G7 framework that ensures energy and AI are harnessed responsibly, strengthening G7 nations’ competitiveness while protecting security and democratic standards.

We are backing that up with real action at home. We have our first Minister of Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation. We are partnering with countries like the U.K. and the UAE and with leading AI companies like Cohere. And we are developing an AI Strategy with a recently launched AI Strategy Task Force that includes experts from industry, academia and civil society to shape it.

Building on that, I am pleased to be launching today the Artificial Intelligence for Canadian Energy Innovation call for proposals through my Ministry, Natural Resources Canada. Projects funded under this call will catalyze the development of novel, Canadian-made AI solutions and build directly on the commitments made at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, where nations agreed that harnessing AI responsibly is essential to energy security and economic competitiveness alike.

Each of these stories — from AI research to CCUS projects to new private sector deals — forms part of a much larger narrative.

It is a narrative that demonstrates that the scope of energy innovation is getting bigger, whether it is using AI or new tech for Carbon Dioxide Removal — which means the economic opportunities for energy innovation are growing. Across the board, there is recognition of the need, urgency and opportunities of innovation, and that growth will require more collaboration networks than ever before, stretching across universities, startups and entire regions.

I would suggest that building that network is what this Energy Innovation Forum is about: bringing the best and the brightest together to share ideas and accelerate action.

And when today’s Forum wraps up, it will not be the end of this work. I am excited to announce that in June 2026, Canada will host the 11th IEA Global Conference on Energy Efficiency in Montreal.

Efficiency — often called the “first fuel” — is the fastest, cheapest way to cut emissions while boosting growth. Every unit we save strengthens competitiveness, lowers bills and eases pressure on the grid.

For Canada, energy efficiency is an industrial strategy: modernized codes that make buildings comfortable and affordable; public retrofits so our infrastructure remains resilient; and smart standards that help households and businesses both save money and cut emissions.

Globally, efficiency unites producer and consumer nations alike — it is where climate ambition meets energy security and affordability. In Montreal, we will gather leaders to discuss how we can reduce demand without reducing opportunity so that families save, industries grow and grids stay stable as electrification accelerates.

To conclude, as we begin this year’s Forum and move toward the G7 meeting beginning tomorrow, I want to leave you with a simple message: Talking about innovation and connecting with potential new partners are important; but innovation is not just about ideas — it is also about implementation.

We need to take the best ideas out of labs and off test sites and get them into the hands of people who can use them: engineers, entrepreneurs, industry and communities.

Because, ultimately, innovation is much more than a story of technology. It is a story about human ambition, about people who ask, “What if?” What if we could build energy systems that power our economies without compromising our planet? What if we could harness artificial intelligence to make discovery faster, manufacturing cleaner and grids more reliable?

Every generation faces a moment when technology, capital and conscience intersect. This is ours.

So as we embark on this year’s Energy Innovation Forum, let’s make a promise to ourselves and to each other: that when the world looks back at this moment, it will say this was when we stopped debating what might be possible and started delivering what we know is necessary.

It is time to get serious about building an energy future that provides prosperity for the next four years and the next four decades. A future that is secure, affordable and sustainable. We are fortunate to have a convenor like the IEA to push that agenda forward. And Canada is ready to do its part by partnering, investing and leading with urgency and purpose.

Let’s use these days in Toronto to shape not only the next generation of ideas but also the next real action items.

Thank you.