MANITOBA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition

Manitoba possesses significant competitive advantages for the low-carbon transition, including low-cost clean electricity, critical mineral deposits, and a strong agricultural sector. However, the province faces fiscal risks due to a high debt-to-GDP ratio and a lack of supportive policy frameworks, resulting in a low number of transition-opportunity companies compared to other provinces. While some sectors like agricultural technology and alternative proteins are growing, Manitoba lags in clean hydrogen, batteries, and storage. Additionally, the report highlights the disproportionate exposure of visible minorities to transition-vulnerable sectors and the need to address historic harms to Indigenous communities to ensure equitable development in mining and energy.

• Manitoba has strong competitive advantages for the low-carbon transition, specifically its low-cost clean electricity, deposits of transition-critical minerals such as copper, gold, rare earth metals, and lithium, and a mature agricultural sector with growing agricultural tech and alternative protein industries.
• The province lacks the policy environment and funding necessary to scale transition-opportunity companies, ranking among the lowest for public and private R&D funding. The only provincial funding program, the Conservation and Climate Fund, provided only $1M in 2021.
• Manitoba's transition-opportunity companies are few in number (14 active companies) and highly concentrated in agricultural technology and alternative proteins (43%), with no company-level representation in CCUS, clean hydrogen, batteries and storage, bioproducts and bioenergy, or mining tech.
• Economic and fiscal risks are significant: Manitoba has not decoupled economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, and it had the highest debt per capita and the fourth-highest debt-to-GDP ratio (39%) among provinces in 2020.
• Transition risks disproportionately affect certain populations; roughly 4% of workers are in transition-vulnerable sectors, and visible minorities are disproportionately exposed, representing 22% of workers in these sectors despite being 17% of the total population.
• The province is falling behind other hydro-generating provinces in electrification and hydrogen strategy. For example, in 2020, only 0.5% of registered vehicles in Manitoba were electric, compared to 4.5% in Quebec and 6.7% in British Columbia.
• Historic harms from hydroelectric and natural resource projects have eroded trust with First Nations, which may hinder future development of critical minerals, despite Indigenous Peoples making up 61% of mining-related jobs in Manitoba as of 2016.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (n.d.). MANITOBA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MB-profile.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. MANITOBA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition. n.d. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MB-profile.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=MANITOBA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MB-profile.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitutendmanitoba, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{MANITOBA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MB-profile.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }