Last year, the federal budget announced a range of funding programs and tax measures to advance Canada’s transition to a clean economy and support businesses on their path to decarbonization. The Canadian government has committed to the country achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, which was reflected in the Fall Economic Statement and is expected to continue as a theme of this year’s budget announcements.
Draft legislative proposals to implement the Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit (CHITC), designed to help support the costs of projects that produce clean hydrogen, and the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit (CTMITC), an incentive to help with the capital cost of clean technology manufacturing equipment and the extraction, processing or recycling of critical minerals, were released for comment in December 2023. The budget could provide an opportunity for the government to announce changes to these proposals in response to any comments it may have received prior to the consultation period closure on February 5, 2024. Depending on the extent of any further changes, legislation to enact one or both of these measures could be included in an implementation bill introduced shortly after the budget.
Bill C-59, which was introduced in Parliament late last year, included legislation to implement a number of other previously proposed clean economy tax credits: