Black future for green tech in B.C.

While Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has been abroad lately extolling the opportunities and results from the green technology sector to foreign investors, others see a less positive outlook.

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions released a white paper on Tuesday that says investment in the green sector is slowing since the economic collapse in 2008. The report, titled Cleantech Access to Venture Capital in British Columbia: Analysis and Recommendations  also says that the B.C. government’s Clean Energy Act, which has provisions for investment in green technology, doesn’t have a clear plan for creating results.

“Public policy influences where venture capitalists invest, and in this global recession climate, clean technology development is seen as high-risk due to factors such as high capital costs, commercialization uncertainty and delayed revenue generation,” said Report co-author Yuri Perez Gonzalez in a pres release. “Other barriers include lengthy delays to BC Hydro’s procurement process which makes the bidding price for energy obsolete by the time the Electric Purchase Agreement is awarded, insufficient money being available from the Innovative Clean Energy Fund, and a lack of business experience in this young sector, due in part to B.C.’s limited manufacturing base.”

The report had eight recommendations for the government to make green technology an attractive investment opportunity for investors:

• Substantially increase the B.C. Carbon Tax
• Create an implementation commission for the Clean Energy Act
• Make the government an early adopter of clean technologies
• Increase the funding and transparency of existing cleantech programs and grants
• Create a Clean Transportation Act to reduce greenhouse gas transport emissions
• Encourage more exits for venture capitalists by expanding BC’s network of investors via trade missions and marketing
• Allocate more resources to community and school programs to promote a clean energy BC
• For the B.C. government to support new innovation funds for renewable energy technologies, rather than consider a feed-in-tariff policy

You can read the report and get more information from The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions here.