Brookfield invests $1.1B to scale sustainable aviation fuels

TECH

Brookfield boosts sustainable aviation fuels

What happened: Brookfield Asset Management is investing up to $1.1 billion in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer Infinium to decarbonize air travel.

Based in California, Infinium develops ultra-low carbon electrofuels made of waste CO2 and green hydrogen from renewable energy. The company claims that their efuels can reduce lifecycle emissions by +90%. 

Brookfield will invest $200 million from it’s $15 billion decarbonization fund into Infinium and its Roadrunner project in Texas. Brookfield will also invest up to $850 million in future projects and lead Infinium’s Series C.  

What's the context: Aviation emissions have been growing steadily, climbing back to 80% of their pre-pandemic peak. Airlines are trying to decarbonize but are struggling to secure enough supply of SAFs to make a dent. According to the IEA, SAF only makes up ~0.1% of all aviation fuel consumed, and planned production will reach just 1-2% by 2027.

Brookfield’s investment could help accelerate the production and availability of SAFs while taking advantage of a “structurally short” market with high demand and low supply. The participation from Brookfield is a sign that SAFs are getting less risky and moving from “first of a kind” to “nth of a kind” projects.

Keys to success: Infinium has lined up a number of moving parts to make their projects viable. The company has placed projects near abundant renewable energy and waste CO2 to reduce costs, tapped into carbon capture and hydrogen incentives, and lined up offtake agreements.

The bottom line: efuels are a promising path to decarbonize aviation and Brookfield’s backing can help close some of the supply-side gaps. The investment also highlights the thorough work required to make projects attractive to more mature capital.

CLIMATE CAPITAL

🐛 Catalera BioSolutions (Vancouver, BC) secured $8.8 million in a first close of Series A funding led by agtech investor S2G Ventures. Catalera is a spin out from Vancouver agtech company Terramera and offers a line of bio-based pest controls for crops.

💨 Deep Sky (Montreal, QC) landed a $2.5 million investment from National Bank of Canada and BMO to develop carbon removal infrastructure. The capital will be used for project exploration and site planning for carbon storage in Quebec.

🛠️ Kahi (Ottawa, ON) closed $2.3 million in seed funding led by BDC Capital’s seed fund to streamline the disaster restoration process. Kahi uses connected sensors to monitor and optimize equipment used by disaster restoration subcontractors, providing transparency to insurers and property owners. 

🛍️ SecondShop (Toronto, ON) raised a $2 million seed round led by fintech specialists Harvest Venture Partners to create a marketplace for secondhand goods. SecondShop offers a direct-to-consumer platform for returned and unboxed products. 

♻️ CleanBC Plastics Action Fund announced $14 million for organizations developing repair, reuse and recycling solutions for plastics, including Sixone Labs’ circular materials and Reuasables’ circular packaging platform.

🚙 Exro Technologies (Calgary, AB) raised $25 million through a public offering. The capital will enable Exro to deliver its electric motor systems to vehicle manufacturers.

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

🏅MaRS announced the latest cohort of the RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator, including Permalution, TerraFixing, and CERT Systems. Friendlier, Aruna Revolution, and Ayrton Energy also won awards at MaRS’ Women in Cleantech Accelerator Showcase.

🚌 Ballard Power Systems will restructure to reduce costs by 30% in order to adapt to slower hydrogen adoption. Based in Vancouver, the hydrogen fuel cell maker anticipates layoffs and will re-evaluate a Texas gigafactory and its China strategy.

⛏️ Neo Performance Materials opened a new production plant for its emissions control catalysts in Zibo, China. Based in Toronto, Neo is a major global producer of rare earth compounds.

📊 Energy management company Energy 360 launched Envirally, an energy and emissions reporting platform for small- and medium-sized businesses.

♻️ Tersa Earth partnered with the economic development arm of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to collaborate on projects using their microbe-based solution for treating mine tailings and metals recovery.

🏅 Spring announced the 15 founders entering their Invest Together in Climate Innovation Program. Startups in the program include Elastic Energy, Genuine Taste, and FireSwarm Solutions.

🔌 ChargeStop opened Edmonton’s first EV-only service station. The station is equipped with fast-chargers, a pre-booking system, and amenities tailored for longer visits.

🔋 The Malahat Nation and Energy Plug Technologies broke ground on a new, 100,000 sq ft battery energy storage assembly plant on Vancouver Island.

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NEWS

Carbon pricing breakdown

What happened: Former allies are distancing themselves from Canada’s consumer carbon price as it becomes a political punching bag.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and B.C. Premier David Eby both walked back their support for carbon pricing last week. Singh says he wants to see “an approach to fighting the climate crisis where it doesn't put the burden on the backs of working people”, and criticized the home heating oil carve out that the Liberal government introduced earlier this year.

Eby, who leads the BC NDP and has previously supported carbon pricing, said he would end the consumer carbon price in B.C. if the federal laws change.

How we got here: Higher costs of living from inflation and global energy prices put a target on carbon pricing. It’s been singled out by Conservative politicians as a drain on Canadian households, despite it barely making an impact on consumer prices.

But a three year exemption for home heating oil in Atlantic Canada by the federal government is causing former allies to reconsider. Eby said the change damaged the “political consensus” that carbon pricing was a fair and effective way to reduce emissions across the country.

Why it matters: Carbon pricing’s market-based approach allows individuals to identify the best way to reduce their emissions and can achieve emissions reductions at a lower economic price than other policies. And most households will actually receive 70% more in rebates than they pay for carbon.

The bottom line: Other policies can pick up some of the slack, but losing a consumer carbon price would be a significant setback. Industrial carbon pricing drives about 20-48% of reductions according to analysis by the Canadian Climate Institute, while the consumer fuel charge drives between 8-14%.

IN THE NEWS

🌊 Offshore ambitions: Nova Scotia is accelerating plans for offshore wind and wants to see project bids as soon as next year despite slow progress from the feds. The province introduced legislation to create an alternative process for issuing offshore wind licences if the federal process isn’t ready fast enough. Bill C-49, which would create a shared regulatory system for offshore wind between the province and the federal government, is still making it’s way through the Senate.

💨 Hot air: A fifth of all methane produced in Saskatchewan is escaping into the atmosphere according to new peer reviewed study. Methane is 80 times as potent as CO2 for the first 20 years it’s in the atmosphere. Emissions from the super-heating gas have been growing since the mid 2000s, and in many cases have been under-estimated by up to 50%. 

🔋 Slow and steady growth: Battery and hybrid-electric car sales jumped to 12.9% of new vehicles sales in Q2. Three quarters were battery electric while a quarter were plug-in hybrids. That number may seem small, but it’s a significant jump from a ~3.5% share in 2020. Growth is steady, but slower than automakers expected.

BIG PICTURE

A major US steelmaker may walk away from $500M in grants to produce green steel

Exowatt looks to solve AI’s energy problem with thermal batteries

China is using less oil than ever as global demand slows

US solar manufacturing capacity quadrupled post-IRA

What’s holding back Europe’s climate ambitions?

The most promising climate tech startups

Japan launches a $400M hydrogen fund

GM and EVgo roll out EV charging stations that look like gas stations

Google buys captured carbon at $100 per tonne, a critical price point for carbon removal

COMMUNITY

🗓️ Ottawa Climate Community Meetup: Join the Ottawa climate community to make new connections, share challenges, and find new collaborators. September 26th, Ottawa.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🗓️ Energy Disrupters - Unite: Join this immersive summit designed to challenge assumptions, facilitate connections with unlike minds, and empower leaders of the energy transition. October 1st & 2nd, Calgary.

💻️ Relocalize is hiring a Robotics Engineering Technologist to develop the robotics systems that drive their micro-factories.

➡️ Find more open roles.