A generation of climate tech was built on assumptions that no longer hold up. AI primitives and cutting-edge models are commoditizing software, creating new questions around the future of climate software.

We sit down with an investor and founder to unpack what the Saaspocalypse means for climate tech.

⁠Geordan Hankinson⁠ is a Partner at ⁠Renewal Funds⁠, a Vancouver-based impact VC with a track record of climate software exits including Opus One Solutions (acquired by ABB). ⁠Mike Hejmej⁠ is the CEO of ⁠Senpilot⁠, an AI-native platform for electric utilities.

Geordan has backed and exited climate startups under the old software playbook, while Mike is building squarely inside the new one, betting that regulated, high-stakes deployment environments create a moat that a model alone can't replicate.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• What the "SaaSpocalypse" actually means for climate software

• Why the old software playbook is hitting a ceiling

• Stress testing the idea that anyone can build production-ready software in hours or days

• How utility buyers are actually evaluating build-vs-buy right now

• Where moats still hold: physical infrastructure, regulated trust, and proprietary context

• A speculative new playbook for climate software founders building today

RESOURCES

• Find Geordan Hankinson and Mike Hejmej on LinkedIn

• Renewal Funds

• Senpilot

• Geordan’s post on how AI primitives are impacting SaaS strategy

• Renewal Funds recent investments: SuperCircle, Rodatherm

• Fin.ai 

• Models: GLM 5.2, Gemma 

Hi there,

Happy almost-Canada Day! In this week’s issue, we take a look at how Deep Sky delivered North America’s first verified DAC removals, and what it says about the state of carbon removal. It’s a fitting reminder that some of the most important climate solutions are being built right here 🇨🇦.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Ballard’s $566M bet on energy-as-a-service

• Moment Energy opens the world’s first battery repurposing megafactory

• Canada launches a new Nuclear Strategy

P.S. Raising soon? We spend a lot of time with investors across the Canadian ecosystem - happy to give feedback, make connections, or just talk through your approach. No strings attached. Reach out: hello@climatetechcanada.ca

Not a subscriber yet?

Deep Sky delivers North America’s first verified DAC removals

Source: Deep Sky

What happened: Deep Sky delivered the first verified direct air capture (DAC) credits in North America this week, transferring credits for 14 tonnes of permanently stored CO2 to RBC and Microsoft.

Deep Sky becomes only the second company to deliver DAC removals, after Climeworks in Iceland.

The details: DAC captures CO2 that's already in the atmosphere. Unlike most companies in the space, Deep Sky is a project developer. They've pulled together a diverse set of technologies from companies like SkyRenu and GE Vernova at their Alpha test site in Alberta, testing the technologies to see which ones will scale.

The Alpha site opened last summer, and is designed to capture 3,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The removals are verified by UK-based certification startup Isometric, which focuses on high-quality, science-based certification.

Why it matters: Carbon removal is at an inflection point. Startups that raised capital to develop their tech now need to scale up and turn signed contracts into delivered tonnes.

Deep Sky's first deliveries are an important proof point, showing that DAC is capable of delivering real, verifiable removals.

Not so simple: DAC remains expensive, relying on large amounts of electricity to strip carbon from the air. Drawing in more buyers will require driving those costs down near the $100/tonne mark.

What's next: Deep Sky is moving from pilot to execution mode, with quarterly deliveries to RBC and Microsoft locked in, offtakes signed with TD Bank, Lufthansa and Engie, and more projects on the way in Quebec and Manitoba.

SPONSORED BY

The #1 Time-Series Database Built on Postgres.

Columnar storage. No split architecture. No new query language. TimescaleDB extends Postgres with hypertables, Hypercore compression, and continuous aggregates so analytics run on live data.

CERN uses it to handle sensor data from the Large Hadron Collider.

One database. No pipeline.

Start with $1000 In Credits

Sellit9 (Toronto, ON) closed a $4.1 million seed round to expand its recommerce platform for electronics into new product categories and enter the US market.

Deep Sky (Montreal, QC) secured a strategic investment from Japan’s CMBC to advance DAC and carbon removal infrastructure in Japan.

Moment Energy (Vancouver, BC) received a $3 million follow-on investment from NorthX, providing working capital to bridge project deployment costs and revenues.

Ballard Power Systems (Burnaby, BC) acquired UK hydrogen producer GeoPura for $566 million, adding to its fuel cell business. Ballard plans add a “energy-as-a-service” business, combining production, storage and fuel cells.

pH7 Technologies (Vancouver, BC) received $5 million in funding from NRCan for a copper processing project.

Moment Energy opened the world's first EV battery repurposing megafactory in BC.

PowerBank partnered with Nodiac.ai to deploy modular, containerized data centres at PowerBank sites with existing power and land access.

AtkinsRealis is seeking regulatory approval to build CANDU reactors in the US to meet energy demand from data centres.

Edmonton's Wyvern joined NASA's Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program to provide hyperspectral satellite data to NASA researchers.

FlyteBoat launched electric water taxi service in Halifax Harbour.

Colorado's Scount Clean Energy opened offices in Ottawa and started construction on a 150MW energy storage project.

SFU VentureLabs and Manterra Technologies partnered up to offer local manufacturing capacity to BC-based startups.

Aalo received DOE approval to operate its Aalo-X test reactor in Texas.

Fusion startup General Fusion will explore deploying fusion power plants in Italy with renewable energy developer Renexia.

Cielo Waste Solutions pivoted its sustainable aviation fuel project from Alberta to B.C. citing supportive policy and biomass access.

Circuit Électrique opened the first public heavy-truck charger along a major freight route from Quebec City to Toronto.

Going nuclear: Canada launched its Nuclear Energy Strategy targeting up to 10 new large reactors by 2040. The strategy is built around four pillars: enabling new builds in Canada, global exports, expanding fuel production, and new nuclear innovations.

Carbon pricing fallout: Decarbonization projects that relied on higher carbon prices are feeling the fallout from Canada’s new carbon pricing framework, which lowered the price per tonne from $170/tonne to $130.

• 🎧️ Listen to our latest podcast episode: What It Takes to Make Carbon Pricing Stick in Canada on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.

Inter-province grid upgrades: The federal government is backing five intertie projects, allowing provinces to share electricity between provincial grids more easily. The grid upgrades are a key part of Canada's goal to double the grid by 2050.

EV rebates return: BC opened a revamped EV rebate program for medium and heavy-duty EVs, offering rebates at the point of sale and accelerating payments to sellers.

Data centre pushback: Hamilton, ON will pause approvals for new data centres to review and update rules around energy, water use, noise and more. It's the first pause in Canada as municipalities deal with more requests for projects.

• Meanwhile, Manitoba rejected large data centre projects in favour of a military base expansion.

Welcome, Washington: Washington state will link its carbon market with California and Quebec, expanding North America's largest cap-and-trade system. The move adds more stability to the market, expanding the number of emitters and projects in the system.

More retrofits: The feds expanded the Greener Homes Affordability Program to QC, BC, NS and PEI, directing over $500M to help low- and median-income households install heatpumps and do energy efficiency retrofits.

QUICK HITS

• The scientists trying to re-freeze Arctic sea ice

• Isometric raises $40M to expand beyond carbon

• Why China’s drop in oil demand isn’t an accident

• Governance - not infrastructure - is slowing down the grid

• Plant-based milk growth is outpacing dairy

• Trump signs order advancing regenerative agriculture

• Why Slate switched batteries in its EV trucks

• Michael Bloomberg puts up $285M to build clean energy’s institutional strength

🚀 FUNDING

• Advanced Materials for Energy and Defence: Applied R&D for clean energy and defence applications. Apply by July 3rd.

• New York Energy Security Canadian Technology Accelerator: Hosted by Canada’s Trade Commissioner, the accelerator will lead in-person programming and connections at NY Climate Week. Apply by July 13th.

• Developer U: A free intensive course built for climate executives preparing for their first demonstration or commercial project. Toronto, October 28-29th.

• Strategic Response Fund - Food Security: Providing $10-$50M for projects that enhance domestic food resilience.

💼 JOBS

• Senior Geologist (CDR/CCS) at Deep Sky

• Manager, Project Delivery at Eavor

• Data & ML Engineer at Jetson

• Senior Developer at GoBolt

• ML Engineer at Local Energy

More: Events | Job Board | Post a Role | Funding Programs

Canada's industrial carbon pricing system just went through its biggest redesign since it launched, trading ambition for stability. Depending on who you ask, the deal is either a major unlock - or a major step backwards.

We sat down with ⁠Etienne Rainville⁠, VP for Central Canada at ⁠Clean Prosperity⁠, a Canadian think tank that's been one of the most consistent voices for market-based climate policy. He's been making the case for carbon contracts for difference and was actively engaged as the Ottawa-Alberta negotiations unfolded.

We unpack what the certainty-price trade-off really means, how it impacts investment decisions - and where climate policy goes from here.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• Why the industrial carbon market was broken - and what the gap between the $95 headline price and $30 trading price actually means

• What changed: the new headline price schedule, the price floor, and how carbon contracts for difference work

• Why the floor alone isn't enough - and what CCfDs do that regulation can't

• What this means for founders and investors evaluating capital commitments

• Whether renegotiating the system undermines its long-term credibility

• How this deal impacts provinces beyond Alberta

• And where we go from here

RESOURCES

• Find Etienne on LinkedIn

• Clean Prosperity

• A primer on the Canada<>Alberta MOU

• Etienne Rainville: Want to maximize Canada’s future energy economy? Embracing contracts for difference will be key

• CP modelling: How the federal-Alberta grand bargain can increase oil sands profitability

• Canada’s Industrial Carbon Pricing System

Climate startups face a commercialization gap: They've proven the science, but are too risky for VCs - and too commercial for a government grant.

It's a gap that philanthropic capital is well-positioned to close.

⁠Galith Levy⁠ is the CEO and co-founder of the ⁠Climate Solutions Prize⁠, a dedicated philanthropic platform for climate innovation, deploying capital at the moment it matters most. Since 2020, they’ve deployed more than $12M in awards and unlocked over $120M in follow-on investment for winners.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• Why a prize vs grants, funds, or donor-advised vehicles

• The unique gap that philanthropic capital can address

• How CSP structures the prizes to unlock follow-on investment

• Why climate makes up just <2% of climate philanthropy - and how that can change

• Family offices and the next-generation of climate capital

• Communication impact returns - not just financial ones

• What blended finance actually looks like in practice

• Building the "Davos for climate"

RESOURCES

• Climate Solutions Prize

• XPRIZE

• The Earthshot Prize

• Report: State of Climate Philanthropy in Canada

• CSP companies Opalia and GHG Sat

We know heat pumps work - they’ve been around for decades - but actually getting them into homes is a challenge. The gap is structural: high upfront costs, a buying process stuck in the 90s, and a supply chain stacking layers of margin between the manufacturer and your home.

We talk with ⁠Stephen Lake⁠, founder and CEO of ⁠Jetson⁠, a home electrification company focused on making the transition to electric systems more affordable and sustainable. Jetson was started by the same team that built and sold North (formerly Thalmic Labs) to Google. They raised a $50M Series A earlier this year and are operating in Vancouver, Colorado and Massachusetts.

Jetson is giving heat pumps the DTC treatment and vertically integrating the entire experience - from hardware to install -building a system that functions more like mass production than a typical HVAC company.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• Why home heating is a bigger emissions lever than switching to an EV

• The structural barriers keeping heat pump adoption low - and Jetson’s thesis for closing the gap

• Jetson’s strategy for turning one-off installations into a repeatable process

• How Jetson thinks about entering new markets- The cold-climate and cost myths that are still slowing adoption

• What a fleet of connected homes means for the customer experience

• The grid integration play: demand response, time-of-use optimization, and what comes next

RESOURCES

• Find Stephen on LinkedIn

• Jetson

Can Toronto become a global climate hub - and put Canada on the map?

Becky Park-Romanovsky is a global leader in sustainability and climate action, with a track record of launching and scaling climate-focused initiatives across multiple continents. She founded Toronto Climate Week, co-founded Climate North, is a lecturer on Social Entrepreneurship at IE University in Madrid, and previously developed carbon offset projects across the Americas, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

TOCW is a decentralized platform - part convener, part infrastructure layer for Canada's climate ecosystem. Their October kickoff was planned as a single day with 20 events. Instead, it drew 100 events, 5,000 attendees, and representation from 30 countries - with zero international outreach. The full week runs June 1–7 with 200+ events across 16 tracks.

We get into:

We're happy to be supporting TOCW in their inaugural year as a media partner.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• Toronto's potential as a climate hub - where it's strong and who still needs to come to the table

• Why corporate climate action isn't slowing down even as public commitments disappear

• The strategy behind radical inclusion - arts, sports, culture

• Building the infrastructure to turn a week of conversations into measurable outcomes

• What Canada's climate ecosystem looks like if Toronto gets this right

RESOURCES

• Find Becky on LinkedIn

• Toronto Climate Week

• Climate North

• Sacred Earth

• Leading Change

Hey there,

Welcome to all the new folks that subscribed this week! Today we’re back from a busy few days on the road and sharing a few takeaways from Toronto Climate Week. With 200+ events happening all across the city, it’s pretty much impossible to sum it all up. But we’ll share a few key themes that jumped out, and what it says about the state of climate tech in Canada.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• NS/TX closes $10.5M to scale alternative protein production

• TD and Deep Sky sign a 10-year CDR deal

• The team mapping Canada’s geothermal resources

p.s. enjoying the newsletter? Share it with someone in your network and help us grow

What we heard at Toronto Climate Week

Credit: Hiroki Kudo

Across five days and 200+ events, Toronto Climate Week showed that Canadian climate tech is past the “is this real?” question - and now onto the harder conversation about capital structure, market timing, and what it takes to scale.

Adaptation on the horizon
The realities of a warming climate are hitting home, and adaptation - products and services whose demand increases in a hotter world - is emerging as an investment thesis.

• Darren Clifford from Adapt[us] laid out a clarifying assumption: if 2.5°C of warming is happening, how does that change where you invest or build?

• Evok Innovations expanded its Fund IV thesis to include adaptation because a changing climate means customer demand is showing up

• For insurer Definity, seeing claims double over the last decade signals a new reality. Restoring customers to pre-catastrophe conditions is no longer enough and requires a more active role in prevention and adapting

• The thesis is still murky: exits are unclear, acquirers aren't obvious, and trying to sell loss avoidance is hard

Building in the real world
Climate tech isn't just about developing your technology. It's about scaling up from the lab and putting together complex, commercial-scale projects.

• For Amit Modi from FGS, the first thing he looks at after a financial model is a risk register - identify every project risk before you pitch, from offtake agreements to supply chains and project partners.   

• Canada Growth Fund uses stage gates to meet the market while managing project risk, unlocking capital as milestones are hit

• Founders focused on raising the current round need to keep an eye on the long term: having a line of sight to the next-of-a-kind project and showing investors the long-term game plan

Clean AI takes centre stage

The CleanAI Initiative launched their Canadian ecosystem report, making the case that Canada's already a leader in deploying AI for the climate.

• Clean AI is a foundational growth sector, not a niche - 11% of AI VC is tied to a clean AI application

• Canada's positioning (AI talent + resource economy + cleantech expertise) is strong, but compounding requires concentration: Vancouver, Toronto, KW, and Montreal each have distinct strengths that need to connect

• For all the ways AI is reshaping energy demand and climate tech, this event was one of the few covering the topic, suggesting it’s still flying under the radar here in Canada

The case for Canada

Canada’s climate policy is sending mixed signals lately, but the actual moves on the ground are clear.

• In our carbon solutions panel, the pull for international companies to Canada is real: regulatory stability, clean energy abundance, proximity to US markets, and resource access

• Tina Rasmussen from Meadow Lake Tribal Council said Microsoft saw working with Indigenous communities and industry as a values-aligned partner - not a hurdle - in putting together a 15-year CDR offtake

• But a speed and coordination gap persists. Nikhil Shukla from ArcTern put it plainly: Bay Area deals close faster because the whole capital network operates on trust. Canada's version is still forming. More big exits create the track record that gets you there

The bottom line: The climate tech conversation is maturing quickly as more companies go through the commercialization gauntlet. The structures that let ambition compound - trust networks, project financing, institutional offtakes - are the work of the next few years.

NS/TX (Toronto, ON) secured US$10.5 million in Series A funding and grants to scale its alternative protein manufacturing platform, led by Inter IKEA and Lever VC. NS/TX is building its V2 automated assembly line to 10x capacity.

SensorUp (Calgary, AB) closed a growth financing round led by Pender Ventures for its monitoring platform for heavy industry. SensorUp monitors oilwell production, flaring, and methane leaks, and will use the capital to expand into new industries and develop agentic modelling.

Picketa (Fredericton, NB) raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Tall Grass Ventures for its crop analysis platform. As fertilizer prices climb, Picketa analyses plant tissue to help producers optimize fertilizer use.

EECOMOBILITY (Hamilton, ON) closed a follow-on financing round for its battery testing platform backed by RiSC Capital, Automotive Ventures and an OEM. The funding will be used to scale commercial deployment internationally and expand its product.

BeNat (Sherbrooke, QC) and Local Energy (Montreal, QC) won the Climate Solutions Prize Startup Competition.

Lyrata (Toronto, ON) won a $200K investment from Spring for its sustainable soil alternative for indoor farming.

NORAM Electrolysis Systems receives $5.6M to scale lithium refining operations. Vancouver-based NESI secured $5.6 million in federal and provincial funding to scale up electrochemical lithium refining.

Germany's TKMS signed an MOU with Heirloom and thyssenkrupp to develop large-scale DAC in Alberta. The agreement is part of TKMS' bid to build submarines for Canada.

General Fusion and Eavor ranked first and second on Time's Top GreenTech list for best-performing companies. Hydrostor and Carbon Upcycling also made the list.

Calgary-based Kathairos has reduced the equivalent of one million tonnes of CO₂ by replacing methane-rich natural gas with liquid nitrogen in pneumatic devices at oil and gas sites.

TD Bank signed a 10-year carbon removal offtake deal with Deep Sky, buying over 18,000 credits from direct air capture facilities.

GIT Coatings launched a next-gen graphene coating for ship propellers that reduces build-up, improving performance and fuel efficiency.

Bruce Power successfully refurbished its Ontario nuclear reactor seven months early and $150M under budget, extending operating life to 2064.

Jetson launched its home electrification service across California.

Climative launched its customer engagement platform for home energy upgrades in the US, helping homeowners leverage home equity for retrofits.

The Cascade Institute launched the Canadian Thermal Model, a machine learning-based map of Canada's geothermal resources to unlock investment in geothermal energy.

• The Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition is also building out a Canadian Deep Geothermal Roadmap.

US-based Vema Hydrogen partnered with First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt to produce engineered mineral hydrogen at a nickel-cobalt project in Newfoundland.

Food security strategy: Canada launched its National Food Security Strategy, committing over $3.6B across food production, processing and distribution. Notably, it includes $750 million for indoor farming and a $1B fund for project finance at Farm Credit Canada.

Low-cost power procurement: Ontario secured some of the lowest-cost generating capacity in its latest call for power - all of which came from renewables. New battery storage capacity was 36% lower than the last round.

EV mandates: Quebec lowered its zero-emissions vehicle mandate to 80% by 2035 citing supply chain and trade issues. Meanwhile, BYD may be bringing its flash-charging network to Canada.

Carbon groundwork: Quebec passed new legislation that lays the foundations for the province to establish a regulatory framework for carbon sequestration. Provincial regulations are required to tap into federal incentives.

QUICK HITS

• BP and Shell are done with renewables

• A “Godzilla” El Niño could make 2026 the hottest year yet

• Solar and storage made up 90% of new US capacity in Q1

• Participation trophy: SBTI allows companies to claim “best efforts” on emissions

• Can we really decouple emissions from growth? It’s complicated

• Is this the end of the AI hype-cycle?

• Twelve opens the first commercial SAF plant in the US

• Rivian’s R2 takes on the SUV market

• The SpaceX alum betting on oceans for geothermal energy

🗓️ EVENTS

• District Energy 2026 - June 23-26th, Ottawa

• IEA Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency - June 29-30th, Montreal

• PNW Climate Week - July 13-19th, Vancouver

💼 JOBS

• IP Strategy Manager at Eavor

• Head, Field Operations & Performance at dcbel

• Commercial Director at Peak Power

Check out the Job Board. Hiring? Post a role.

Hi there,

Toronto Climate Week kicked off this week - I’ll be in town for the week and hosting two events on data centre demand on the grid and FOAK projects. If you’re in town, would love to see you there!

In this week’s issue, we take a look at Rio Tinto’s $1.5B low-carbon aluminum expansion in Quebec. It’s the first part of a push towards fully zero-emission production, building a structural edge in a metal that the energy transition can’t do without.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Climeworks’s CDR deal with TD Bank

• FireSwarm taps into defence spending

• Ontario kills Toronto clean building standards

Quick housekeeping note: We’re switching to a bi-weekly round-up for the summer (unless something really interesting comes up).

Rio Tinto starts up low-carbon aluminum production

Source: Rio Tinto

What happened: Rio Tinto started up phase one of its new $1.5B low-carbon aluminum smelter expansion in Saguenay, QC - the first major aluminum project in North America in more than a decade.

The global mining company isn't stopping there: the same day, Canada committed $100M to ELYSIS, Rio Tinto's joint venture with Alcoa to fully eliminate emissions from aluminum smelting.

The details: The expansion brings Rio's AP60 technology online, paired with Quebec hydropower, to produce 220,000 tonnes of aluminum a year with one-sixth the emissions of the industry average and some of the lowest production costs in its industry. Rio is now exploring AP60 deployments in Finland and India.

ELYSIS goes further, eliminating carbon emissions entirely by replacing carbon anodes with inert materials and emitting pure oxygen instead of CO2. The tech is still scaling, but is already being used in some Apple products.

The context: Aluminum is the world's second most-used metal, but it carries a heavy carbon footprint, contributing about 2% of global emissions. Most of that comes from the amount of energy used and its carbon intensity - smelting is so electricity hungry it's sometimes called "frozen electricity".

Why it matters: Aluminum isn't just for pop cans - demand is surging across energy transition tech like EVs and power transmission, as well as aerospace and defence.

Geopolitical pressure is making domestic clean supply a strategic priority. Canada is the world's fourth-largest producer, and Quebec's nine hydropower-fed smelters (of Canada's 10) are a carbon and cost advantage that's hard to replicate. Even under 50% U.S. tariffs, The Logic reports Rio's U.S. exports have returned to normal.

AP60 and ELYSIS are a two-step industrial decarbonization roadmap: one live and scaling today, one closing the remaining gap to zero.

The bottom line: Quebec is becoming a global anchor for clean aluminum as the world races for supply. Rio is proving that low-carbon can also mean low-cost - and a long-term strategic edge.

Arca received $2 million from NRC's IRAP Clean Tech program to bring its carbon mineralization technology from lab scale to field deployment. IRAP Clean Tech - the replacement for SDTC - is slowing ramping up funding activity.

Anodyne Chemistries secured $1 million in follow on funding from NorthX for its CO2-to-chemicals pilot plant in BC.

Climeworks signed a 10-year carbon removal supply deal with TD Bank to deliver a portfolio of multiple carbon removal pathways and technologies across North America.

US-based Graphyte plans to build Canada's first carbon-casting plant in B.C, compressing forestry waste into sealed bricks for permanent underground storage.

ChargeHub launched a charging reservation platform for EV fleets with AXSO, allowing fleet operators to book charging slots with network operators, and guaranteeing customers before building new infrastructure.

South Korea's Hanwha Power signed a strategic MOU with Pembina Pipeline to develop waste heat recovery power systems. The partnership is part of Hanwha's industrial and technological benefits (ITB) contribution for its bid to build Canadian submarines.

FireSwarm Technologies also secured an ITB investment with KONGSBURG Canada for its autonomous ultra-heavy-lift drone systems.

Building backwards: Ontario passed legislation to kill Toronto's green building standards, ending requirements like EV charging and energy efficiency.

• Vancouver ended it's own building emissions rules last month

• Calgary rescinded its 2021 "climate emergency" declaration, calling the motion "performative"

EV rebate returns: Canadians claimed $122 million in iZEV rebates since the program relaunched in February. But dealerships are struggling with slow reimbursements.

Climate caucus: Former environment minister Steven Guilbeault resigned as a Liberal MP citing the Carney government's backtracking on climate policy. The PM is facing internal pressure too, with a small group of MPs sending a letter expressing their concerns.

Carbon pricing setback: Algoma Steel paid 71% more in carbon pricing payments despite investing almost $1B to switch to electric arc furnaces. Ontario's carbon pricing system reclassified the steelmaker based on electric production standards - not it's historical emissions.

Solar fees: Alberta rolled out a new "recycling" fee for solar panels in the province, collecting $14 per panel. Meanwhile, the province carries over $1B in liabilities for orphan oil and gas wells.

Nuclear expansion: Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst called for more nuclear power plants to reach 100% renewable energy for AI growth and energy security. Data centre demand is accelerating small and large scale reactor development in the U.S.

QUICK HITS

• Clean energy trade rebounds despite over-supply and US tariffs

• Germany's new €2B SAF package

• EU considers methane exemptions to manage oil shocks

• Bezos Earth Fund backs lab-grown textiles

• Mining giant BHP backtracks on emissions-cutting projects

• SBTI pivots to company-specific targets

• This group wants to champion a new story for clean energy

• Elemental Impact launches hyperscaler-backed data center initiative

• Scoping the market for clean AI

🚀 NorthX Open Intake: Seeking climate hard tech solutions that can drive industrial decarbonization and deliver economic benefits for BC and Canada.

🚀 Advanced Materials for Energy and Defence: advancing applied R&D for clean energy and defence materials. Apply by July 3rd. 

🗓️ No Shortcuts: What It Takes to Commercialize Climate Tech: We’re cohosting this candid panel from the people who have been there. June 3rd, Toronto.

🗓️ Clean Compute: Canada's Grid in the AI Era: Join us for this conversation with Mysa, e-Zinc, SPUR Innovation and others on how Canada’s grid needs to evolve for a new reality. June 4th, Toronto. 

💼 Senior Creative Strategist at Jetson

💼 Senior Manager / Director, Communications at Carbon Removal Canada

💼 Vice President, Communications & External Affairs at Eavor

More: Events | Job Board

Hey there,

ESG commitments may be unravelling, but mandatory disclosure laws don’t care. This week, we look at La Caisse’s investment in ESG platform Novisto - and what it says about how institutional investors are taking action while the backlash plays out in headlines.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Renaissance Bioscience is hacking RNA for pest control

• Quebec’s new $5B financing for Indigenous energy projects

• Deep Sky’s offtake deal with Lufthansa

p.s. we’ll be at Toronto Climate Week next week co-hosting two events - clean compute and commercializing climate tech - and moderating the "Why Canada?" panel at the Carbon Solutions flagship. Hope to see you there!

La Caisse backs Novisto to build ESG infrastructure

Credit: Sean Pollock

What happened: Montreal-based Novisto secured a strategic investment from institutional investor La Caisse to accelerate international growth for its corporate sustainability data platform.

Portfolio companies CAE, Boralex and Couche-Tard are already Novisto users, turning a customer relationship into an equity position.

The details: Novisto helps large organizations collect, validate and report ESG data. The platform ingests data across an organization's operations, creates auditable reporting, and automates disclosures that can take hundreds of hours and external consultants to complete.

What's the context: Companies have walked back public climate commitments to avoid political and investor backlash over the past few years.

Voluntary pressure campaigns are losing steam: Investors for Paris Compliance shut down last week citing the ineffectiveness of shareholder campaigns.

But advocacy groups and institutional investors like La Caisse are shifting tactics, moving from public shareholder ESG resolutions and divestment toward private dialogues and active engagement on transition plans.

Why it matters: Reporting and disclosure rules are creating binding demand regardless of what companies say publicly.

The EU's CSRD and ISSB-aligned mandatory reporting frameworks across Asia and the Middle East are ramping up, requiring that companies disclose auditable ESG data alongside other financial measures.

The bottom line: ESG-backlash headlines are no match for mandatory climate laws. La Caisse is betting Novisto becomes the infrastructure that the compliance era runs on.

SPONSORED BY CLIMATE SOLUTIONS PRIZE

Climate Solutions Prize Festival 2026 — Innovation in Motion

Canada's climate challenge isn't an invention gap; it's a scaling gap. The Climate Solutions Prize Festival (June 8–9, Marché Bonsecours, Montréal) is where innovation gets moving. Founders, investors, researchers, and policymakers. Seven thematic tracks. One ecosystem. One mission: accelerating climate solutions from breakthrough to scale.

Innovation in Motion. Be part of it.

Come witness innovation in motion.

Vancouver's Renaissance Bioscience developed an "RNA interference" biopesticide from yeast that targets the RNA of specific pests while leaving surrounding plants and soil undamaged.

Protein Industries Canada and four Prairie First Nations will launch a new fund to invest directly into Canadian food and agriculture.

Deep Sky closed an offtake agreement with Lufthansa Group with to supply high-quality direct air capture carbon removal credits.

NS/TX, the company behind plant-based salmon maker New School Foods, launched a new partnership with Protein Industries Canada to scale up their manufacturing technology for whole-cut plant-based foods.

BrainBox AI and Trane opened an AI innovation lab in Montréal to develop energy efficiency solutions for buildings, targeting the 30% of energy most buildings waste.

GeoRedox will develop the first stimulated geologic hydrogen well at Canada Nickel's Crawford mine in Ontario, producing the first zero-carbon hydrogen from natural deposits.

Airbus established a new tech hub in Quebec to develop sustainable materials and decarbonization solutions for aircraft including batteries, SAF, and aerodynamics.

Calgary-based Enbridge will develop a $1.2B solar and battery storage project in Wyoming to power Meta data centres.

Irish solar developer BNRG and North Shore Mi'kmaq Tribal Council are developing a 150 MW agrivoltaics project in New Brunswick, the largest solar project in the province.

About face: Canada's suite of climate policies is shrinking for the first time, with more policies ending or running out of funding in 2025 than were implemented according to the Canada Climate Institute.

Rollback on carbon pricing: The federal government lowered its carbon pricing backstop to align with the price agreed to with Alberta. Few provinces use the federal pricing backstop, but will likely be pressured to lower their carbon pricing.

• The MOU with Alberta also lowered the target for the Pathways carbon capture project from 22 Mt per year to 16 Mt.

Indigenous energy: Hydro Quebec launched a $5B financing program for major wind energy projects with Indigenous partners, backed by CIB and National Bank.

EV revival: EV sales are surging around the world - the US. Canadian sales are up 75% year-over-year, hitting 12% of new cars sold. Meanwhile, EVs are expected to hit 28% of global sales in 2026.

Corporate climate: Almost 75% of U.S. and Canadian businesses have or are developing climate action plans according to a BMO survey. Climate risks are a top concern.

Gas ban: Vancouver lifted a ban on new residential gas connections and killed emissions reporting for commercial buildings.

Coal risk: SaskPower is planning a $26B coal plant refurbishment that could increase electricity prices at least 20% by 2030.

QUICK HITS

• Capturing the current moment: Former Northvolt site will host a data centre

• A 1GW data centre costs $60B. Here's where the money goes

• Corporate buyers are driving clean energy in the U.S.

• Germany launches cultivated meat innovation hub

• Crux closes $500M in debt to scale tax-credit clean energy business

• Deep Fission plans $1.6B IPO for underground SMRs

• Ford gets into the energy storage game

Calgary Climate Week: bringing together communities, innovators, investors, and policymakers to celebrate and accelerate climate solutions. Calgary, June 1-6th.

World Geothermal Congress: a global platform shaping the future of geothermal energy. June 8-11th, Calgary.

District Energy IDEA: bringing the global district energy community together. June 23rd, Ottawa.

Chief Financial Officer at Novisto

Operations Lead, Transportation at GoBolt

Product Lead and Associate General Manager at Mangrove Systems

Director of Business Development at Planetary

More: Events | Job Postings | Funding Opportunities

Hi there,

I’m coming off a packed week around Web Summit out in Vancouver, including Climate Global and the first Canadian Climate Capital Summit (big thanks to Hiroki, Climate Door and NorthX for the hook ups).

AI dominated just about every conversation at Web Summit: who controls it, will it be open/closed, etc. It’s also clear that AI is changing how investors think about climate tech: software moats are eroding, and capital is shifting toward hardtech and infrastructure where the winning conditions are clearer.

As one investor put it, climate is no longer just about emissions: it’s increasingly being reframed as the future of production and consumption.

OK, back to business. This week we’re looking at the new Canada <> Alberta carbon pricing deal, and whether it gives large-scale decarbonization efforts the certainty they need to go forward - or sets the floor to low to close the financing gap.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• AI insiders launch SAIG to help companies align sustainability with AI adoption

• Vancouver could reverse emissions reporting for large buildings

• The Better Butchers take plant-based meats public

Plus, my conversation with Jetson founder Stephen Lake on The Climate Cycle.

Canada and Alberta sign new carbon pricing deal for $130/tonne by 2040

Credit: Wolfgang Weiser

What happened: Ottawa and Alberta signed a deal to set Alberta's industrial carbon price at $130 per tonne by 2040 - well below the $170/tonne federal trajectory originally planned for 2030.

The details: Alberta will commit to an effective price of $130/t by 2040 and a floor price of $60/t in 2030, escalating to $110/t by 2040.

The deal also commits Alberta and the feds to 75 million tonnes of contracts-for-difference (CFDs) to support decarbonization projects.

What's the context: Alberta's TIER system covers roughly one quarter of Canada's industrial emissions. And while the deal may improve on the current state, it's a low bar. Alberta froze the effective price at $95/t last year and credits have been trading even lower - around $45/t.

Why it matters: For project developers, price guarantees may matter more than the headline number. Persistently low and volatile TIER credits made bankable projects hard to put together.

A price floor and CFDs build trust that credit prices will retain their value. Lenders can price in risk and investors can deploy capital into more assets.

Not so simple:

• Dropping the headline price from $170 to $130/t (and a floor of just $60 in 2030) may not be enough to make projects viable

• The path locks in an additional 84Mt of emissions by 2050 and puts Canada's net-zero targets out of reach

• A carve out for Alberta and consultations with other provinces risks $130/t becoming the new norm across the country

The bottom line: The deal trades carbon pricing ambition for investment certainty. CFDs will need to do some heavy lifting to get large-scale industrial decarbonization projects to pencil out - and close that 84 Mt emissions gap.

SPONSORED BY CLIMATE SOLUTIONS PRIZE

Climate Solutions Prize Festival 2026 — Innovation in Motion

Canada's climate challenge isn't an invention gap; it's a scaling gap. The Climate Solutions Prize Festival (June 8–9, Marché Bonsecours, Montréal) is where innovation gets moving. Founders, investors, researchers, and policymakers. Seven thematic tracks. One ecosystem. One mission: accelerating climate solutions from breakthrough to scale.

Innovation in Motion. Be part of it.

Secure your tickets now.

MDS Coatings (Prince, Prince Edward Island) received $55.7 million from the Strategic Response Fund to scale production of its nanocoatings that reduce aircraft engine fuel consumption and maintenance.

Canada Growth Fund will invest $145 million into Sayona, a subsidiary of Australian miner Elevra, to expand its North American Lithium mine.

11 companies secured $10.7 million from non-profit CMC Microsystems' FABrIC network to develop edge computing solutions across energy efficiency and heat, including Blumind, SPARK Microsystems, and Ranovus.

The Better Butchers will go public on the CSE through a reverse takeover of health tech startup Health Logic Interactive.

Hydrostor announced plans to develop an advanced compressed air energy storage project in Ontario after securing municipal support.

Former Novonix CEO Chris Burns launched Dryve to develop more efficient cathode manufacturing. Novonix sold Burns the assets for Dryve for $1 and provided $2 million in seed funding for the new venture.

Nouveau Monde Graphite green-lit its Matawinie Mine graphite project in Quebec, finalizing a US$645M financing package.

Sustainable AI Group (SAIG) launched in Montreal to help companies align increasing AI adoption with sustainability goals. SAIG is led by ex-Hugging Face AI and climate lead and Salesforce's former head of AI sustainability.

Cheakamus Community Forest reported a 6x revenue jump from forest management carbon credits after BC's carbon pricing system kicked in.

EVREC filed permits for a +3GW wind-to-green hydrogen and ammonia project in Newfoundland, aiming to produce up to 1 million tonnes of green ammonia for export.

PODCAST

Closing the Heat Pump Adoption Gap with Jetson

We know heat pumps work - they’ve been around for decades - but actually getting them into homes is a challenge. The gap is structural: high upfront costs, a buying process stuck in the 90s, and a supply chain stacking layers of margin between the manufacturer and your home.

We talk with Stephen Lake, founder and CEO of Jetson, about the structural barriers keeping heat pump adoption low - and Jetson’s thesis for closing the gap; why home heating is a bigger emissions lever than switching to an EV; and how they turn one-off installations into a repeatable process.

Listen on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Electricity strategy: Canada unveiled a new national electricity strategy aiming to double grid capacity by 2050. The strategy includes a focus on building supply chains, grid infrastructure, while also positioning natural gas to fill some baseload capacity.

• The strategy is short on firm commitments and needs to go through consultation before implementation.

Gas ban reversal: Vancouver's Mayor moved to repeal the city's ban on natural gas heating in new buildings and emissions reporting requirements.

New power: BC will add 3,500 GWh of clean energy through four new wind projects in its latest call for power. The call received proposals for twice as much capacity as requested.

Slowing investment: Canadian VC hit the lowest quarterly deal count in Q1 of this year since 2017. Capital shifted to early stage deals and CVCA tracked only one growth-stage deal.

Hydro breakdown: A proposed hydroelectric deal between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador is not in NL’s interest according to a review panel. Both provinces say they want a deal to update the infamous Churchill Falls contract.

QUICK HITS

• You’ve heard of the Hydrogen Ladder. Now, meet the Electrification Staircase

• China and the EU are building a carbon pricing bloc

• What the end of this IPCC scenario actually means

• Berkely now requires climate upgrades to sell your house

• CATL and Tencent want to give carbon markets a boost

• FOAK projects split into the haves and have-nots

CURRENT OPENINGS

Senior Mineral Processing Engineer at Mangrove Lithium

Campus Leaders (various, Ontario) at Friendlier

Sr. Financial Analyst at pH7 Technologies

Director of Technology at Seacork Studios

Senior Analytics Engineer at GoBolt

Manager, Industrial Integration at Carbon Removal Canada

Check out the Job Board. Hiring? Post a role.

Hi there,

This week we take a look at Moment Energy’s $40M Series B to turn retired EV batteries into grid-scale storage. They’ve giving batteries a second life and creating a China-free supply chain for battery storage at the same time.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Skyward Wildfire lands $1M to stop wildfires from lighting

• MaRS launches a new FOAK Lab

• Ontario wants to build large-scale nuclear - the first in 30 years

Plus: I caught up with Nelson Switzer from Climate Innovation Capital to get his take on making the most of Toronto Climate Week - and what to avoid.

Moment Energy lands $40M Series B to scale second-life energy storage

Source: Moment Energy

What happened: Moment Energy closed a US$40 million Series B led by Evok Innovations to scale its second-life battery storage systems.

The tech: Moment Energy repurposes used battery packs from EVs for energy storage. When a battery comes off an EV after 10-15 years, it still has around 80% of its original capacity. That's not useful for an EV where range matters, but offers years of storage potential.

Moment combines industry-standard certification to ensure they're ready to be reused and a customized battery management system to optimize performance.

What's the context: Electricity demand is growing, driven by AI data centre growth and electrification. Grid operators and data centre developers are moving to add storage capacity to supplement renewables and lower peak demand.

Battery storage costs have hit record lows, but supply chains are still highly concentrated in China, creating price and availability risk for buyers.

Why it matters: Moment Energy's second-life model turns a growing waste stream into a cost advantage - and a domestic supply chain.

As the North American EV fleet grows, so does the supply of retired packs available for reuse. Moment estimates that about 900 GWh worth of battery packs will be retiring by 2030 alone.

Tapping into existing battery packs also allows the company to side-step "Foreign Entity of Concern" (FEOC) rules that prevent companies from using suppliers tied to countries like China. While competitors rely on imports from China, Moment's batteries are already here.

The bottom line: Moment has raised over $100 million to date and will use the fresh capital to expand its production facilities in BC and open its first gigafactory in Texas, serving grid-scale customers on both sides of the border with domestically-sourced storage.

SPONSORED BY CLIMATE SOLUTIONS PRIZE

Climate Solutions Prize Festival 2026 — Innovation in Motion

Canada's climate challenge isn't an invention gap; it's a scaling gap. The Climate Solutions Prize Festival (June 8–9, Marché Bonsecours, Montréal) is where innovation gets moving. Founders, investors, researchers, and policymakers. Seven thematic tracks. One ecosystem. One mission: accelerating climate solutions from breakthrough to scale.

Innovation in Motion. Be part of it.

Come witness innovation in motion.

Skyward Wildfire (Vancouver, BC) received $1 million from Innovate BC's Integrated Marketplace program to test its lightning-caused wildfire prediction and reduction technology.

Greenwater Technology received $5 million from Ontario for a renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel pilot plant from forestry mill by-products.

Canada invested $30 million in six food and ag innovation organizations, including CFIN, Bioenterprise Canada and MaRS.

MaRS launched its FOAK Lab, a nine-month program to help climate tech startups finance and execute their first commercial-scale deployments. The first cohort includes Carbonova, Exterra, and Planetary.

Vancouver's NORAM Electrolysis Systems's technology will be deployed at Vulcan Energy's lithium processing plant in Germany to produce battery-grade materials for European EV manufacturers.

Phytokana Ingredients secured $450M in long-term offtake agreements for its fava bean protein products, underpinning plans for a commercial-scale processing facility in Alberta.

Pulsenics partnered with Moment Energy to use its electrochemical diagnostic equipment to develop quality control for second-life EV batteries.

Light House launched Bluprint, its accelerator for sustainable construction products and technology.

How to Use TOCW Like an Investor (Even If You’re a Founder)

Toronto Climate Week isn’t a conference. It’s a once-a-year market for attention, capital, and ideas.

Most people show up and drift through it. They hop between panels, coffees, and happy hours. The ones who get real value treat it differently. They treat it like a process.

Before you arrive

The week is already won or lost before it starts. If you’re building your schedule on June 1st, you’re already behind.

Pick six to eight people you actually need to meet. Investors. Founders. Partners. People who matter to your next step.  

Start with relevance. Who is actively investing in your space - not who you wish was. Look at recent deals. Portfolio overlap. Published investment theses, articles and interviews. Then pressure-test the list. Ask yourself: who can actually change my trajectory in the next 90 days?

Visit the TOCW calendar and carve it up using filters that prioritize your objectives. Capital. Access. Partnership. Reviewing the speakers should act as your first lens. This tells you who you’ll meet. Teams tend to travel together. The room matters as much as the stage.

Small, curated formats outperform scale. Dinners. Roundtables. Invite-only sessions. That’s where connections happen.

Then think about location. Anchor yourself in one or two hubs, not ten. Proximity compounds opportunity.

Once you have identified your short list, reach out early and be specific about why you want to meet. This isn’t about maximizing volume. It’s about maximizing relevance. Quality over quantity.

Keep reading for Nelson’s take on pitching, winning the week, and how to close the loop →

New nuclear: Ontario is advancing the first large-scale nuclear build in 30 years, entering a cost-sharing agreement with Bruce Power to advance consultation and pre-construction activities for a 4,800 MW nuclear power plant.

Impact assessment: The Carney government is proposing major changes to Canada’s project permitting regime, including moving responsibility for pipelines to the Canada Energy Regulator.

Honda backs out: Honda may pull out of a $15-billion EV plant in Ontario due to weak U.S. EV demand and a strategic shift toward hybrids. The plant would have produced 240,000 EVs per year starting in 2028.

Carbon pricing stalemate: Alberta is pushing for slower increases to the industrial carbon price in its negotiations with the federal government that could open up new pipeline routes.

QUICK HITS

• Shopify signed $24M in durable CDR contracts last year

• AI could push Microsoft to drop its clean energy targets

• Concordia scientists quantify the climate-warming impact of reflective surfaces

• This startup plans to make protein from air

• A status check on grid modernization in the US

• Why corporates should prioritize climate lobbying over purchases

• The US could ban “meat” from plant-based labels

• How much energy does AI actually consume?

🗓️ Toronto Climate Week: Seven days of ideas, solutions, and collaboration with participants from across Canada and around the world. June 1–7th, Toronto.

🗓️ Global Energy Show: Connecting industry, capital and partners around the priorities shaping Canada’s next phase of energy growth. June 9-11th, Calgary

💻️ Moment Energy is hiring a Director of Engineering

💻️ Jetson is hiring an Applied AI Engineer

💻️ NorthX is hiring an Investment Associate/Principal

Hey there,

Quebec will be home to the world’s first hub for carbon removal mineralization. Launched by Carbon Removal Canada and Frontier in a former Quebec mining town, they’re taking a big swing at bringing the cost of carbon removal down. We’ll look at what this shared infrastructure unlocks and how it could be a model for other sectors.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Opalia lands $3.2M to make dairy without cows

• NorthX deploys $3M into industrial decarbonization

• A new nuclear strategy for Canada

p.s. I’ll be in Vancouver next week for Web Summit / ClimateGlobal - If you're around and want to grab a coffee, give me a shout!

The world's first carbon mineralization hub launches in Quebec

Credit: Carbon Removal Canada

What happened: Carbon Removal Canada and Frontier launched the world's first mineralization hub at Thetford Mines, Quebec - a site that could deliver 400-700 Mt of carbon removal valued at $60-175 billion. The goal: bring together the right structures and supports to make mineralization the cheapest pathway for carbon removal.

The context: Surficial mineralization grinds up specific types of rock that absorb CO2, converting it into stable carbonate minerals and locking it away permanently.

Minimal energy inputs and low-cost materials like mining waste make it a promising pathway for scalable carbon removal. Frontier's modelling suggests costs could reach <$80/tonne.

The details: The hub, in partnership with local ecosystem partners, brings together the pieces that mineralization startups need to test and scale:

• 10,000 tonnes of mine tailings to use as feedstock

• Permitted land with established community relationships

• Lab access for R&D and measurement and monitoring for high-integrity credits

Frontier is also bringing R&D grants and pre-purchases to the table, combining infrastructure with real demand signals.

Why it matters: Projects face real barriers: high startup costs, securing large sites with enough feedstocks, and rigorous measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) requirements.

Shared infrastructure breaks down these roadblocks and unlocks economies of scale.

And it's not just mineralization: Shared infrastructure solves the same upfront barriers wherever permitting friction, community buy-in, and measurement costs stall deployment like geothermal or hydrogen and clean fuels.

The bottom line: Frontier's model puts surficial mineralization under $80 per tonne at scale. If the model proves out at Thetford, Quebec's 800+ megatonnes of mine tailings become the feedstock for something much larger.

SPONSORED BY CLIMATE SOLUTIONS PRIZE

Climate Solutions Prize Festival 2026 — Innovation in Motion

Canada's climate challenge isn't an invention gap; it's a scaling gap. The Climate Solutions Prize Festival (June 8–9, Marché Bonsecours, Montréal) is where innovation gets moving. Founders, investors, researchers, and policymakers. Seven thematic tracks. One ecosystem. One mission: accelerating climate solutions from breakthrough to scale.

Innovation in Motion. Be part of it.

Secure your tickets now.

Opalia (Montreal, QC) closed a $3.2 million seed round led by Nàdarra Ventures to scale its cell-based milk. Opalia replicates milk at the cellular level, producing dairy products without cows.

NorthX invested $3 million into industrial decarbonization, including CURA (low-carbon cement), ShiftX (low-carbon hydrogen) and Kinitics Automation (replacing methane-venting devices for natural gas operations).

Electra Battery Materials secured a $20 million investment from the federal government to build its battery-grade cobalt refinery in Northern Ontario.

Emissions Reduction Alberta invested $41 million across nine projects to reduce emissions in energy and construction.

Estian Partners launched to invest in resource recovery projects across North America, starting with municipal wastewater plants. Estian is led by Laura Zizzo who previously founded Manifest Climate.

Arca partnered with Carbon Direct to accelerate its carbon credit sales by leveraging Carbon Direct's network of buyers.

Dispersa got the regulatory greenlight to commercialize biosurfactant made from food waste in the U.S.

Deep Sky partnered with French energy company ENGIE, who will buy up to 15,000 carbon removal credits from Deep Sky's Alpha test facility Alberta and collaborate on R&D for direct air capture.

Giatec partnered with Silvi Materials to deploy its concrete monitoring technology across a fleet of 360+ ready-mix trucks.

Hypercharge Networks acquired EV charging network Eddie from AXSO, expanding its EV charging network by over 2,700 ports while AXSO will focus on its charging software solution.

H2O Innovation acquired Dutch water treatment company bestUV to expand its water treatment portfolio.

Novonix sold its battery technology unit to its founder and former CEO, refocusing on building its synthetic graphite business.

The Carbon to Sea Initiative launched a Canadian entity, Carbon to Sea Canada, in Halifax to expand research and support for ocean-based carbon removal.

Nuclear strategy: Canada will develop a new Nuclear Energy Strategy by the end of 2026. It includes four pillars: enabling new builds, global exports, expanding uranium and fuel production, and supporting Canadian innovation in fission and fusion.

• The feds also announced $40M to study Canadian-controlled microreactors for remote defence facilities

Photonics spin out: The National Research Council's Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre will be spun out into a commercial entity. Photonics allow faster, more efficient data transfer, critical for data centres and autonomous vehicles.

Economic Update: The Spring Economic Update (i.e. mini-budget) included little progress on key climate tech supports like funding for the IRAP Clean Technology program while extending carbon capture tax credits to enhanced oil recovery and lower tax rates for LNG facilities.

E-Bike rules: Ontario is seeking public input on new e-bike rules that would create multiple classes for power-assisted bicycles and create clarity for micromobility companies.

QUICK HITS

• CATL may have just delivered energy storage's DeepSeek moment

• France commits to phasing out coal by 2030 and all fossil fuels by 2050

• This group wants to make Europe the first electro-continent

• Resale platform Vinted hits a €8B valuation

• BMW i Ventures launches a $300M fund to invest in industrial AI

• The Day After Tomorrow ocean system could collapse

• KK'R’s $10B pivot away from plant-based foods.

• Galvanize expands its retrofit strategy for commercial real estate

• Mars launches cocoa-free chocolate

🗓️ ClimateGlobal: ​ClimateGlobal brings together the international operators, investors, and founders who are navigating a new global landscape. May 12th, Vancouver.

🗓️ Forward Summit West: 1,000+ leaders. 150+ Indigenous communities. Canada’s top companies. May 13-14th, Calgary.

🗓️ Toronto Climate Week: Seven days of ideas, solutions, and collaboration with participants from across Canada and around the world. June 1–7th, Toronto.

🗓️ Lessons from the Front Lines of Cleantech Deployment: Hear from founders with real deployments customers and hard-won lessons to share. June 2nd at Toronto Climate Week.

🗓️ World Geothermal Congress: Uniting industry leaders, researchers, and visionaries to shape the future of geothermal energy. June 8-11th, Calgary.

More: Funding Opportunities | Job Board | Events

Thanks to the folks who shared events for this week’s newsletter! Got something to share? Let us know hello@climatetechcanada.

Happy Tuesday,

This week we take a look at Canada's new sovereign wealth fund. With no explicit climate mandate, it could finance critical infrastructure for the energy transition - or more fossil fuel projects. We unpack what funds in Singapore and Norway tell us about where the money could actually go.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Rockit Motors raised $64M to expand electric motor manufacturing

• Carbonyx closes $1.2M to make carbon capture profitable

• Elemental Trucks launches its new heavy-duty hydrogen truck

Plus: What we’re watching at Toronto Climate Week in June.

Canada launches a $25B sovereign wealth fund

What happened: Canada launched the Canada Strong Fund - its first sovereign wealth fund (SWF) - to invest in Canadian projects and companies.

The details: Unlike other SWFs that reinvest royalties from natural resources, the Carney government will seed the fund with $25 billion, growing it over time with returns and other contributions from the government.

"Conventional" energy is explicitly in scope, but the Fund's mandate also includes clean energy, critical minerals, infrastructure and agriculture.

The context: SWFs from other countries have played major roles in climate funding.

Norway's Norges Bank integrates ESG and climate risk into its investment decisions and explicitly excludes polluting assets (e.g. Canadian oil sands producers like Cenovus and Suncor for "unacceptable greenhouse gas emissions").

Singapore's Temasek took another path, launching Decarbonization Partners, a $1.4B VC fund, with BlackRock to invest in climate technologies.

Why it matters: Canada's fund introduces a new institutional backer for large-scale projects like clean energy, grid infrastructure and critical minerals. By co-investing with private capital, a SWF can crowd in private investment - particularly for assets with long time horizons.

The fund adds to an existing stack of federal financing tools including the $30B Canada Infrastructure Bank (concessional loans) and the $15B Canada Growth Fund (debt, equity, guarantees).

Not so simple: Globally, SWFs have a mixed track record on climate, holding $11.6T in assets but committing ~$10B to climate.

While Canada's fund has no explicit climate mandate, it could follow the Norges Bank model: integrating climate risk and even pushing portfolio companies to reduce emissions.

The bottom line: The Canada Strong Fund won't fund climate solutions the same way BDC or the Canada Growth Fund do - but a $25B equity investor that treats climate as financial risk can still move significant capital toward the transition.

Share this story →

Rockit Motors (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) secured $64 million in equity and debt financing to expand its electric motor manufacturing across North America, serving power generation, rail, EVs and industrial applications.

Carbonyx (Vancouver, BC) raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round for its carbon capture platform led by local angel group WUTIF Capital. Carbonyx wants to make carbon capture economically viable beyond carbon credits by producing valuable materials at the same time.

Serenity Power (Calgary, AB) closed a $1.16 million pre-seed round led by Avatar Innovations for its solid oxide fuel cell power systems.

Rock Tech Lithium (Toronto, ON) filed to go public on NASDAQ with a dual listing to access US markets.

Moltex Energy, the British parent company of Canadian nuclear developer Moltex Energy Canada, is in talks with a Canadian buyer. A sale would bring all Moltex assets under Canadian ownership.

Siemens will receive $23 million from Canada’s Strategic Response Fund to support its battery production R&D facility.

H55 delivered its first battery modules to Swiss electric aircraft company Smartflyer for its SFX1 aircraft.

Elemental Trucks launched a prototype 63.5-tonne hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 truck.

Climative partnered with Scotiabank to help homeowners understand and improve their home's energy efficiency and manage renovation costs.

Halifax-based smart building startup B-Line is winding down operations, citing delays in enterprise contracts and private sector revenues.

Relocalize opened its autonomous ice micro-factory at a Winn-Dixie distribution centre in Florida, cutting transportation emissions by up to 90% while using plastic-negative packaging.

EverWind's 224 MW wind farm in Nova Scotia received environmental approval from the province. The wind farm will power EverWind's green hydrogen plant.

The Transition Accelerator relaunched the Centre for Industrial Policy to help create a strategic vision for Canada's industrial policy across defence, critical miners, and energy.

What we’re watching at Toronto Climate Week

Toronto Climate Week is coming up June 1-7th and we're supporting again as a media partner! Nine flagship sessions anchor a week with more than 200 events, and more than 10,000 people joining across the city. Here’s what we're watching across the flagship events:

Natural Resources, Infrastructure & Energy: Conversations around nation-building, economic sovereignty, and climate have converged. This session looks at how we drive sustainability and prosperity together.

• We're watching: Going deep with the real tools to move projects off the sidelines - from FOAK financing to Indigenous partnerships.

Carbon Solutions: Canada has depth in carbon solutions - not just for oil and gas, but across forestry, oceans, and mining. How do we turn potential into demand and accelerate deployment?

• We're watching: Why global companies are choosing Canada - I'll be moderating the opening panel with Mast Reforestation and Climeworks.

Food, Nature & Water: The underdogs of climate action - under-invested relative to their climate footprint. These sessions bring the full system together: from farmers to investors; insurance companies to Indigenous guardians. 

• We're watching: Has investor confidence rebounded? And where does the system need to work together?

The Climate Tech Journey: The path from university lab to Series A is a challenging gauntlet. This session covers the full arc and how we close the gap.

• We're watching: Funding and commercialization gaps are well known - has the conversation moved to concrete action?

With 200+ events, these are just the beginning. Want to get involved? Host an event or check out the full calendar of events →

p.s. We’ll be running another event on clean compute at TOCW. More details soon!

Carbon price negotiations: Alberta and the federal government are actively negotiating how quickly the province’s industrial carbon price will increase. Meanwhile, the oil sector is now pushing for it to be scrapped altogether.

Force of nature: Canada launched a new $3.8B nature plan aimed at balancing infrastructure projects with environmental protection. The plan includes conserving land, funding conservation, and helping project proponents minimize impacts.

Lagging on electricity: Clean power sources grew fast enough to meet all new electricity demand last year, according to Ember. But Canada lags well below the G7 average on solar and wind, making up just 9% of electricity generation.

Green hushing: Businesses across the G7 are maintaining climate commitments despite political pushback. Almost 70% says they've increased their action in the last 12 months - but are shifting messaging away from net zero to resilience and risk mitigation.

Nuclear partnership: Ontario and Yukon signed a new partnership to work on deploying small modular reactors to the Yukon's grid, led by OPG and Yukon Energy.

Grounded: Air Transat is the latest Canadian airline to cut flights due to high jet fuel costs and supply constraints. WestJet and Air Canada also cut less profitable routes.

Northern hydro: Ontario is expanding energy infrastructure in the province's north, fast-tracking a 162 km transmission line to mining regions near Red Lake and launching a Northern Hydro Program to secure over 1 GW of hydro capacity.

QUICK HITS

• Redwood Materials cuts staff to go all in on storage

• Fervo and X-energy crack the IPO window

• Indonesia doubles-down on biofuels

• The Arctic Stabilization Initiative wants to slow Arctic tipping points

• Uber adds hydrogen taxis to its Paris fleet

• States are cutting efficiency programs to find savings

🏅 Foresight 50: Foresight Canada is looking for Canada’s most investment-ready cleantech ventures. Apply by June 30th.

🚀 Future Fuels Challenge: Emissions Reduction Alberta’s $50 million funding initiative to accelerate technologies that reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels across Canada. Apply by June 10th.

💻️ Growcer is hiring a Research and Development Director to better food systems.

💻️ pH7 Technologies is hiring a Senior Project Manager to scale R&D findings into operations.

💻️ dcbel is hiring a Lead UX/UI Designer to make clean, efficient, and sustainable energy accessible to all.

More: Funding Opportunities | Job Board | Events 

Got something to share? Let us know hello@climatetechcanada.

Hey there,

This week, we take a look at why Hydro-Québec - long synonymous with cheap, clean hydropower - is making its biggest bet on wind yet, and what a decades-long procurement signal could mean for clean energy supply chains.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• Tydra labs secured $1.2M to turn shrimp shells into biomaterials

• Mangrove Lithium opens a landmark lithium refining plant

• EV sales jump from high gas prices

Beyond hydro: Quebec bets on wind with 3 GW call for power

Credit: Thomas Reaubourg

What happened: Hydro-Québec launched a call for up to 3 GW of new wind capacity, the first phase of a strategy to build 10 GW of new clean electricity.

The details: The tender targets 12 zones around the St. Lawrence, with projects coming online between 2031-2038.

The utility requires community consultation as a hard condition and will prioritize projects with First Nations partnerships. Projects that use local content and workforce will also get a boost.

The big picture: It's a big pivot for Hydro-Québec, which has relied heavily on hydropower to deliver clean, low-cost electricity.

But new hydro projects have long lead times and are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drought - a scenario that led the utility to suspend energy exports to Massachusetts earlier this year.

Meanwhile, nearly 50% of total energy consumed in Quebec still comes from fossil fuels imported from outside the province. Diversifying the electricity supply is a hedge against climate change-induced drought and volatile energy markets.

Why it matters: A sustained, multi-round procurement with local content requirements has the makings of a domestic wind supply chain. That includes blade and tower makers (Quebec is home to just one of each), but also circularity and recycling, siting intelligence, and more.

It also sends a signal to investors that this isn't a one-off procurement, but a long-term industrial strategy that can sustain long-term investments.

What's next: First-round bids are due early next year. That’s ten months to build community partnerships and local supply chains. Two more procurement rounds follow, making this the beginning of a decade-long build.

Share this story → 

Tydra Labs (Vancouver, BC) raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Spring Impact Capital to turn fungi and crustacean shells into chitin-based biomaterials.

CRWN.ai, Nova and Skyward Wildfire Technologies received $2.2 million in follow-on funding from NorthX Climate Tech to detect, prevent and manage wildfires.

Mangrove Systems (Toronto, ON) acquired operating assets and customers from Grain Ecosystem, a biochar project development platform, taking on a significant share of the biochar market.

DevvStream (Vancouver, BC) will be acquired by XCF Global along with Southern Energy Renewables to combine operations across sustainable aviation fuel, green methanol, and carbon management.

Evok Innovations (Vancouver, BC) is raising US$400 million for its third industrial climate tech fund.

Mangrove Lithium opened North America’s first commercial-scale electrochemical lithium refining plant in BC. The facility will produce 1,000 tonnes per year, enough for 25,000 EVs.

BMO and RBC purchased carbon removal credits from Mast Reforestation’s new biomass burial project in Montana.

CURA partnered with building materials giant TITAN Group to test CURA’s electrochemical limestone-splitting technology for producing low-carbon cement.

CHAR Technologies will acquire a biocarbon pilot and demonstration production plant in Quebec and secured a five year offtake agreement to turn CHAR’s biochar into 62,500 tonnes of biocarbon pellets.

BluWave-ai launched a patent licensing business unit to allow partners to build on BluWave’s IP portfolio and bring solutions to market faster across grid optimization, EV management and battery storage.

Asahi Kasei postponed its Ontario battery separator plant to 2029 or later after Honda deferred its EV production plans.

THE CLIMATE CYCLE

Turning retired EV batteries into domestic energy storage

The batteries we need to save the grid aren't overseas in a factory. They’re already here.

The first generation of EVs is starting to retire, but those battery packs still hold ~80% of their original capacity. Not useful for an EV where range matters, but stack them together and it becomes years of grid storage waiting to be deployed.

We sat down with Sumreen Rattan, co-founder and COO of Moment Energy, to talk about their second-life battery thesis, securing domestic supply chains, and the practical bottlenecks to building the world’s first battery repurposing gigafactory.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

EV rebound: EV sales jumped over 47% year-over-year in February driven by the return of federal rebates, making up 10.2% of new sales. Interest continues to grow as gas prices go up.

• Meanwhile, PM Carney suspended the federal gas tax to offset price spikes from the US’ war in Iran. The move will lower prices by about 10 cents per litre.

Stalled progress: Canada’s emissions reductions slowed to basically zero in 2024 according to the latest official inventory. Emissions from oil & gas and agriculture once again offset progress in other sectors.

Falling behind: RBC and Scotiabank abandoned their 2030 financed emissions targets. RBC said its goals aren’t reasonably achievable due to changes in government policies and geopolitics.

Energy fast-track: Alberta plans to fast-track strategic energy projects with a 120-day approval window.

Meeting peak demand: Ontario launched a new demand response program to get commercial properties to reduce their energy use during peak periods, targeting 230 MW of peak demand reduction by 2027.

Data centre citizens: Microsoft plans to cover the full cost of new energy infrastructure for new data centres in Ontario as part of a “Community-First” framework for Canada.

📣 NRCan Survey: Natural Resources Canada is surveying Canadian cleantech companies about public procurement opportunities. Fill it out by April 28th.

💻️ FireSwarm is hiring a CTO to lead the development of autonomous, heavy-lift drone systems for wildfire.

💻️ Planetary is hiring a Director of Business Development to own origination and client management for ocean-based CDR.

💻️ Corix is hiring a Project Manager, Project Delivery (PMO) to execute district energy projects.

🗓️ PNW Climate Week Info Session

🗓️ EVs: Connectivity & Data Are Key To Performance: Montreal’s climate meetup dives deep on EV data. April 23rd, Montreal.

🗓️ Climate Coffee - Victoria: Meet fellow climate builders in Victoria. April 30, Victoria, BC.

The battery storage market is growing - and the supply chain feeding it runs largely through overseas cell manufacturers. At the same time, the first wave of EV batteries is aging out of vehicles, with nowhere obvious to go.

Moment Energy is building the infrastructure to address both problems at once, repurposing retired EV battery packs for commercial energy storage. Their platform takes battery cells that still hold around 80% of their original capacity and redeploys them as stationary battery energy storage. Unlike competitors sourcing cells from overseas, Moment's feedstock is already here: in EVs across Canada and the US.

Sumreen Rattan is co-founder and COO of Moment Energy. The company closed a US$15M Series A from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures, secured a $20.3M DOE grant for a Texas gigafactory, and holds supply agreements with Nissan North America and Mercedes-Benz.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

TALKING POINTS

• Moment’s second-life thesis - why a battery with 80% capacity remaining is too valuable to recycle

• Putting together supply partnerships with Nissan and Mercedes-Benz

• Data centres as a new customer category

• The domestic supply chain advantage as FEOC rules reshape North American procurement

• What's slowing energy storage deployment in Canada

• Building at gigafactory scale and solving the talent gap

RESOURCES

• Moment Energy

• BC Hydro Energy Storage Incentive Program

• Amazon Climate Pledge Fund

• Voyager Ventures

• Simon Fraser University

• US FEOC Regulations

Hey there,

In this week’s issue, we take a look at how Nouveau Monde Graphite is building North America's first integrated graphite supply chain - and why it matters for anyone trying to source battery materials outside of China.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

• pH7 lands $44M to refine critical minerals with electricity

• Alberta could be home to the world’s 3rd largest lithium reserves

• Microsoft pauses CDR purchases

p.s. We hosted our first CTC roundtable last week - a deep dive conversation with founders, investors, energy operators, and policymakers working on clean compute. I’m looking forward to building this into a regular thing. If you’re working in this space and want to join, let me know!

NMG secures $410M to build North America's graphite supply chain

Source: NMG

What happened: Nouveau Monde Graphite secured $410 million for its Matawinie graphite mine, building North America's first fully integrated graphite operation - from ore to processed, battery-grade material.

The details: Canada Growth Fund led the investment alongside Investissement Québec and Italian energy company Eni. The deal builds on a US $335M debt package from EDC and Canada Infrastructure Bank. Public capital does the heavy-lifting to de-risk the project for private capital.

NMG has also secured offtake agreements with Panasonic, Traxys, and the Government of Canada, anchoring demand before the mine produces a tonne.

Why it matters: Graphite is a critical, but under-appreciated part of the clean energy value chain. It's the primary material in lithium-ion battery anodes and makes up ~50% of materials in a battery by weight.

But global supply is highly concentrated in China, which produced almost 70% of graphite and processes virtually 100% of battery anode materials. China has flexed its control of the critical mineral with stricter export controls, and domestic supply is increasingly a hard procurement requirement under US and Canadian industrial policy.

The deal also shows how Canadian battery materials players are approaching US market risk. There's no US OEM anchor (NMG ended a prior offtake deal with GM), the financing is anchored by Canadian and European capital, and offtakers extend beyond EVs into battery energy storage.

What’s next: The fresh capital puts NMG on track for a final investment decision and construction. The focus then shifts to executing a ramp-up with no North American precedent.

Share this story →

pH7 Technologies (Vancouver, BC) closed a $44 million Series B round for its critical mineral extraction platform, bringing on Asahi Kasei and the Circular Innovation Fund.

Rock Tech Lithium (Toronto, ON) secured $200 million from BMI Group to advance its lithium conversion facility in Ontario.

Fondaction Asset Management launched a €300 million natural capital fund with Triodos to convert farmland and forests to regenerative practices.

Microsoft goes dark: Microsoft is telling partners that it’s pausing CDR purchases according to Heatmap. The software giant has bought 45 million tons - about 80% of all carbon removal purchases. (fwiw Microsoft denied it’s indefinitely pausing its purchases)

Lithium potential: Alberta may have the 3rd largest reserves of lithium in the world, with 82.5M tonnes of lithium carbonate. It’s a significant resource in world where demand for lithium continues to rise - particularly for sources outside of China.

Sustainable finance: Canada appointed members of its Taxonomy and Transition Planning Council to develop a national sustainable finance taxonomy by end of 2026.

Hydrogen contraction: NL’s hydrogen sector is down to two active projects - North Atlantic’s 324 MW wind-to-hydrogen project and EVREC’s 2.6 GW hydrogen / ammonia plant. The rest were shelved by Crown land fees and market conditions.

Solar incentives: Hydro-Québec is offering up to $1000 per kW of installed residential and commercial rooftop solar to accelerate adoption and cut payback times in half.

Nova Scotia’s new energy: NS passed new legislation establishing royalty frameworks for offshore wind projects and introduced new frameworks for geothermal energy, natural hydrogen, and carbon storage, filling large legislative gaps.

QUICK HITS

• Stegra gets a lifeline for green steel - and new owners

• Clean energy’s war boost

• This startup wants to turn fusion directly into electricity

• Liberals adopt policy declaring energy efficiency a “nation-building” project

• Could nuclear power plants heat our homes?

• Another battery recycler goes under

• Jet fuel supplies could run out at Europe’s airports within weeks

🚀 NRC e-Auto Challenge: Hosted by NRC, this program provides funding to stimulate innovation in the EV supply chain.

🗓️ PNW Climate Week - Vancouver Info-Session: ​PNW Climate Week is coming to Vancouver. April 22nd.

🗓️ Climate Global 2026: Hosted around Web Summit, this event brings together decision-makers facilitating market entry, cross-border partnerships, and international investment in climate tech. May 12th, Vancouver.

💻️ Diagram is hiring a Co-Founder & CEO, New Venture: Battery-as-a-Service for Commercial Businesses

💻️ Growcer is hiring a Research and Development Director 

More: Funding Opportunities | Events | Jobs