  The Covariant Canonical Gauge theory of Gravity (CCGG) is a gauge field
formulation of gravity which a priori includes non-metricity and torsion. It
extends the Lagrangian of Einstein's theory of general relativity by terms at
least quadratic in the Riemann-Cartan tensor. This paper investigates the
implications of metric compatible CCGG on cosmological scales. For a totally
anti-symmetric torsion tensor we derive the resulting equations of motion in a
Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) Universe. In the limit of a
vanishing quadratic Riemann-Cartan term, the arising modifications of the
Friedmann equations are shown to be equivalent to spatial curvature.
Furthermore, the modified Friedmann equations are investigated in detail in the
early and late times of the Universe's history. It is demonstrated that in
addition to the standard $\Lambda$CDM behaviour of the scale factor, there
exist novel time dependencies, emerging due to the presence of torsion and the
quadratic Riemann-Cartan term. Finally, at late times, we present how the
accelerated expansion of the Universe can be understood as a geometric effect
of spacetime through torsion, rendering the introduction of a cosmological
constant redundant. In such a scenario it is possible to compute an expected
value for the parameters of the postulated gravitational Hamiltonian/Lagrangian
and to provide a lower bound on the vacuum energy of matter.
