Mission Innovation

Launched by world leaders at COP21 in 2015, Mission Innovation (MI) brings together governments and partner organizations to accelerate energy innovation. MI’s 24 member governments represent over 90% of global public investments in clean energy innovation.

The Office of Energy Research and Development (OERD) at Natural Resources Canada leads Canada’s participation in MI. MI provides a platform to build relationships, exchange knowledge and develop collaborative projects with international partners, as well as showcase domestic achievements on clean energy innovation, positioning Canada as a global leader.

Through engagement in MI, Canada has put leading Canadian energy technology innovators on the world stage at Ministerial events and through the ongoing work of MI’s Missions and other initiatives. MI has also created opportunities for senior government officials and Canadian stakeholders to engage with Ministers, participate in events, and strengthen Canada’s partnerships with stakeholders in other countries.

Both domestically and internationally, Canada is accelerating the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of energy technologies that advance competitive, affordable, and sustainable energy solutions, helping to secure Canada’s position as an energy and natural resource superpower. Canada is ready to lead – and through Mission Innovation, Canada is taking bold, decisive action to define the energy landscape of the future.

Learn more about MI and Canada’s actions within the initiative on MI’s website.

MI’s 10^th Anniversary at MI-10 in Busan, Republic of Korea

The MI community marked its 10th anniversary and doubled down on its efforts to accelerate energy innovation globally at the 16th Clean Energy Ministerial and 10th Mission Innovation Ministerial, held from August 25-27, 2025 in Busan, Republic of Korea.

Over three days of meetings and events, Natural Resources Canada officials:

• Met with global industry leaders and government partners to strengthen relationships and reinforce Canada’s international leadership on energy technology innovation, including in the lead-up to Canada’s hosting of the G7 Energy and Environment Ministerial Meeting and the IEA Energy Innovation Forum in October 2025.
• Contributed to Minister- CEO High-Level Dialogues on critical topics such as power systems transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and energy, and carbon management (convened under the Gigatonne by 2030 Campaign).
• Announced Alectra Utilities as the recipient of the MI Green-Powered Future Mission International Collaboration Grant through NRCan’s Energy Innovation Program, showcasing their recently-announced smart grid demonstration project to international partners at the “Innovation Action Forum.”
• Supported the launch of MI’s 10th anniversary “Impact Report,” which showcased Canada’s significant efforts as a founding member of MI, including through the MI Carbon-Dioxide Removal Mission, Materials for Energy Initiative, and MI Think Tank.
• Through the MI Integrated Biorefineries Mission, launched a joint Canada-Brazil report: “Advancing Sustainable Aviation Fuels through Harmonized Biorefinery Assessments.”

For more information on outcomes from CEM-16/MI-10, please visit MI’s website.

MI Missions and Initiatives

A second phase of MI, launched in 2021 shifted focus toward an outcomes-oriented approach, with members and partners contributing to a “decade of action” through MI “Missions”. Under MI’s second phase, Canada:

• Participates in six Missions, including co-leading the Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission, and participates in Missions on Clean Hydrogen, Green-Powered Future, Net-Zero Industries, Integrated Biorefineries, and Zero-Emissions Shipping.
• Participates in several other collaborative activities through MI, including co-leading the Materials for Energy Initiative. Canada also developed and launched the MI Think Tank.
• Actively contributes to MI’s governance, strategic direction, and operations, including on the MI Steering Committee, Technical Advisory Group, and by resourcing the MI Secretariat.

Missions are MI’s flagship initiatives. They are a coalition of governments and non-state actors, working together to solve major energy problems. Through these Missions, governments, companies, and non-governmental organizations are working collaboratively toward ambitious objectives, where research, technology, and engineering advances can enable affordable, attractive, and accessible clean energy pathways.

MI Missions align with Canada’s own efforts to adopt a system-wide, mission-oriented approach to harness Canada’s capacity to innovate and build a strong, diversified economy that’s ready for tomorrow. MI Missions allow Canada to accelerate investments in advanced technologies, expand clean energy infrastructure, and strengthen global partnerships.

Activity Spotlight: The Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Mission is a driver of global progress on CDR, providing a platform for Canada to share its expertise, profile leaders, and collaborate internationally. Joint initiatives through the Mission include the CDR Launchpad – which has showcased leading Canadian CDR innovators and the SMART-CDR student prize competition.

Canada was proud to contribute to the SMART-CDR Competition, which challenged university students globally to form diverse teams and propose innovative CDR monitoring, reporting and verification solutions, while exposing them to the opportunities of the CDR industry.

As Missions demand significant financial and non-financial commitments from participating countries, MI also creates opportunities for members to collaborate through other initiatives. Canada plays a role in several other MI initiatives:

• Materials for Energy (M4E) Innovation Community: Canada co-leads M4E with the European Commission and Germany, which aims to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced materials for clean energy technologies.
• MI Think Tank: through contributions to the MI Secretariat from January 2023-2025, Canada led in the development and delivery of the MI Think Tank – a platform to share knowledge on cross-cutting and emerging issues related to the successful implementation of clean energy innovation policies, programs, and collaborations.
• Insights: Canada provides input into various tracking and reporting products that compile data and analysis for MI. This includes MI’s annual Member Insights Survey and Reports.

Canada’s Engagement during the First Phase of MI (2015-2021)

During the first five-year phase of MI (2015-2021), members including Canada committed to double their respective public investments in clean energy RD&D and collaborate to leverage country strengths, reduce duplication, and increase cost-efficiency of public RD&D expenditures. During MI’s first phase, Canada:

• Reported $786.8M in federal clean energy RD&D spending in 2019-20, surpassing Canada’s doubling objective ($775M).
• Hosted the fourth Mission Innovation Ministerial (MI-4) in May 2019, in Vancouver Canada.
• Collaborated with other governments through the eight MI “Innovation Challenges”.
• Launched new programming leveraging partnerships built through MI, including Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada and the Canada-UK Power-Forward Challenge.

Related Links:

• Office of Energy Research and Development
• Energy Innovation Program
• Mission Innovation (External Link)