Empowering Households

Executive Summary

There are many ways to measure the impact of a climate solution, but often it helps to take the long view. How do we spur the transformational change needed for an electrified, net-zero world? How do we build government will for an energy transition that must persist through an ever-shifting political landscape?

After all, there will be no transition without public buy-in, both literally and figuratively. And thus when it comes to the undertaking of a generation, we must not underestimate the small but mighty household.

All told, households directly account for at least 17% of climate- change-causing emissions in Canada (the combined emissions of consumer vehicles, home spaces, and water heating), and that share is higher in provinces without oil and gas industries, like in Ontario at 30%.

But the real impact of households is greater still. As more and more households globally adopt rooftop solar panels, EVs, heat pumps, battery storage systems, and more, the share of total energy investments made by households has doubled over the past decade. In advanced economies with strong policy support, households have accounted for nearly 60% of energy-investment growth since 2016. Already, China’s surging EV market is playing an increasing role in bending global oil demand growth downward. Indeed, the 17% number mentioned above does not account for the colossal impact global clean technology adoption will have on fossil fuel production, which is our biggest source of pollution.

This is why Clean Energy Canada partnered with Abacus Data on first-of-its-kind market research to better understand the next adopters of clean technologies, their barriers, and the solutions they need to help them make the switch.

Our 3,000-person survey of Canada’s two largest English-speaking urban and suburban centres, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and Metro Vancouver, identified five distinct groups ranging from the highly motivated to the not-at-all-interested. Overall, respondents are quite open to clean technologies: 59% are inclined to buy an EV as their next car (69% in Vancouver, where adoption is much higher), 56% have or positively view heat pumps, and 57% say it’s important their next home is energy smart.

Unfortunately, our national conversation too often focuses on those who aren’t interested in adopting new technologies, or assumes that current adoption rates are equal to interest, when it would be more constructive to instead highlight the giant gap that persists between preference and realization. Enabling the next wave of clean technology adopters will require not simply selling people on their benefits—many are already sold—but on systematically breaking down the barriers keeping would-be EV drivers and heat pump owners from doing what they already want to do.

Younger people, for example, are considerably more inclined to adopt clean technologies: 71% of those under 30 want an EV for their next car, compared to 49% of those over 60. And yet they are also more likely to rent or live in apartments, limiting their ability to make upgrades or access home EV charging.

In contrast, older people often live in homes they could upgrade, but they tend to have more technology concerns. Education and simplification could help them make the switch. For example, given they typically drive less, most retired drivers will manage comfortably with Level 1 EV charging, which uses a regular outlet and eliminates any need for electrical upgrades, but how often are they receiving this information?

Whether you’re young, old, financially stable, or living paycheque to paycheque, the upfront cost of clean technology adoption is likely your number one barrier, as it was for every group analyzed, even despite the fact that 64% correctly recognized that a household with an EV, heat pump, and other clean technologies would end up paying less over time.

Incentives have already proven essential to early EV and heat pump uptake because they soften upfront costs, but generally they’re designed to kickstart the market until prices become so competitive that they are no longer needed. Governments should also be looking at other levers to help address upfront cost: Canada could open its car market to more of the lower- cost EVs sold in other countries, and regulations like the EV availability standard could incentivize automakers to make more models available at more price points.

Governments may also be operating under the assumption that the people who care most about the environment are the ones choosing these technologies. But consider the following. Our “Retired Homeowner” group is almost twice as motivated to lower their carbon footprint as our parent-age “Practical Families” group, and yet their openness to various clean technologies, from EVs to heat pumps to smart homes, is effectively the same.

Ultimately, solutions will vary for different adopters. What is abundantly clear is that governments and policymakers would benefit from a sophisticated understanding of who needs help and what kind of help. With a sharper, detailed picture of Canadians, they might better design incentives, determine investments, and craft communications in a way that meets people where they’re actually at—and where they want to be.