Canada's tariff test

TECH

Moment Energy scales up battery storage

Moment Energy secured US $15 million in Series A funding to build the world’s first gigafactory for repurposing electric vehicle batteries. Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures co-led the round. The raise builds on a US $20.3 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy in October. 

The tech: Moment is repurposing retired EV batteries into battery energy storage systems for medium-scale applications like commercial and industrial buildings, EV charging, and renewable energy. Batteries are sourced from partner car companies like Mercedes Benz, tested, reconfigured, and deployed in storage systems. 

When batteries reach their end of life in vehicles they have as much as 80% of their original capacity left. It’s not enough capacity for driving, where having full range matters, but suitable for energy storage. 

Why it matters: Their solution tackles two emerging needs: what to do with EV batteries as they reach their end-of-life, and a growing need for energy storage.

Current solutions default to recycling batteries, which requires energy-intensive processing and doesn’t use the original battery’s full potential.

The global demand for battery energy storage is expected to reach 1.2 terawatt hours by 2030, driven by renewable energy deployment. At the same time, about 953 gigawatt hours of second-life batteries will be available for repurposing.

What’s next: The fresh capital will enable Moment Energy to expand to gigawatt-hour scale manufacturing, doubling it’s Vancouver facilities while building its U.S. gigafactory.

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CLIMATE CAPITAL

🔌 Lyteflo raised a $3 million Seed round for their EV sales platform led by Diagram Ventures. Lytflo’s platform helps dealerships sell EVs more effectively by surfacing data like lifetime savings and available rebates.

🏭️ Innova Cleantech closed Seed funding for their sustainable graphite and hydrogen production. Weave VC led the round. 

🔋 Li-Cycle secured US $15M through a public offering for its battery recycling business. The funds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. 

☀️ Renewable energy developer Boralex and Walpole Island First Nation secured $172 million in financing for an 80 MW battery storage project in Ontario. 

💰️ The51 closed its $51 million fund focused on food and agriculture tech. It took four years to close the fund given the challenging VC environment, particularly in the agtech space.

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

🏅 Nine Canadian companies made the Global Cleantech 100 list, including newcomer Enersion. That number is down from 13 companies in previous years. 

📊 RiskThinking.AI announced a partnership with TMX Group that will make their physical asset and climate data available through TMX’s ESG Data Hub. 

🔋 Lithion partnered with electric bus maker Nova Bus to collect and recycle used batteries from Nova’s buses. 

🏭️ Svante tapped Tenaska, a CO2 infrastructure provider, to partner on carbon capture and storage projects. 

♻️ RecycLiCo will hold off on big capital-intensive projects and is looking at other avenues to offset slowing EV demand. 

⛽️ Anaergia will build five new biomethane production plants in Italy, producing renewable natural gas from food and agriculture waste.

NEWS

Tariffs put energy, resources in the spotlight

What happened: Newly elected President Trump is threatening 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports, part of an effort to address what he claims are ongoing trade deficits. 

The threat of a trade war with the U.S. puts Canada’s resource industry in the spotlight, as Federal and Provincial leaders pledged “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory export tariffs on electricity, oil and gas, critical minerals, and uranium.

• The lone holdout was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who refused to sign the statement as long as export tariffs on oil are on the table

The context: The U.S. is Canada’s largest export market, but Canada is the largest energy supplier to the U.S., providing about 60% of oil and gas imports, 98% of natural gas, and 93% of electricity. Quebec alone supplies 64% of imported raw aluminum. 

Why it matters: No one expected the incoming president to be a climate champion, but a trade war would upend years of collaboration on clean energy manufacturing, battery supply chains, and access to low-carbon energy. Not to mention major disruptions to both economies.

The bottom line: While threatening tariffs could just be a negotiating tactic, it highlights the need to build beyond resource extraction in Canada.

Startups like Mangrove Lithium and Li-Metal are part of a concerted effort to build out the battery value chain, and tariffs could spark similar drives in other sectors.

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IN THE NEWS

💰️ Westons back climate, healthtech: The billionaire Weston family is launching a new innovation fund focused on climate and healthtech startups in Canada or that leverage Canadian IP. More participation from wealthy families and successful Canadian businesses is a positive sign for Canadian tech, and climate tech in particular.

💲 Liberal leadership candidates split on carbon pricing: Heading into what could be an election defined by carbon pricing, Freeland’s campaign said she would remove it, Carney says it needs a replacement, and Karina Gould says she’ll freeze the carbon price but not remove it to “rebuild trust”. 

🌎️ Price floors: Canada wants G7 allies to explore price floors for critical minerals. The strategy is part of Canada’s strategy to push back on rock-bottom prices that rely on poor labour standards or lax environmental rules. The price floors would also create price certainty for investors. 

⚛️ Ontario explores new nuclear: Ontario Power Generation is scoping out a potential site that could host up to 10,000 MW of new nuclear generation. The new site would be the biggest plant in the world and help the province meet growing demand. Ontario has three nuclear sites operating today.

BIG PICTURE

🇺🇸 Trump will declare an “energy emergency”, i.e. “drill, baby, drill”

🤝 Young conservatives want to push Trump on climate change

⚡️ Negative power prices could undermine Europe’s clean energy targets

🧪 Nobel and World Food prize winners call for food chain research to avert crisis

🏭️ A natural process could change how we make materials

🧬 eDNA startup NatureMetrics raises $25M for biodiversity management

🧯 Massive lithium-battery fire highlights the need for new firefighting tools

COMMUNITY

🗓️ Canada’s Carbon Removal Opportunity: Co-hosted by yours truly, join us to explore the emerging landscape of carbon removal policy and markets. January 30th, Ottawa.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🚀 Call for Energy Storage Innovation: B.C. CICE is offering up to $3M in non-dilutive investments for energy storage innovations in partnership with BC Hydro. Apply by February 28th.

💻️ Propel Impact Analyst Program: Recruit some talented and impact-driven young people for your fund, company or accelerator with Propel’s Impact Analyst program. Open until January 31st.

➡️ Find more open roles.