Climate Tech Canada #13

Hi there,

Welcome to another issue! We’ve got some great stories to cover this week, including funding for algae-based nutrients, a roll out of Direct Air Capture plants, and a profile on a Canadian company solving for plastic waste.

We also saw some big news this week, with the federal government announcing the long-anticipated launch of a national carbon offset market. The market will allow sectors that aren’t covered by the existing, industrial carbon pricing system to generate carbon credits by reducing or avoiding emissions, and selling them to emitters.

The feds appear to be taking a cautious approach, starting with a market for some of the easiest to verify offsets - those generated by methane capture at municipal landfills. We’ll need to navigate some of the thornier issues that have plagued offsets so far, including verifying the reductions happened because of the market (and wouldn’t have happened anyways), the reductions are permanents, and how it interacts with provincial industrial emissions programs.

Hopefully the careful start signals a real attempt to tackle these questions head-on, and optimizes for real emissions reductions over quick fixes and clever accounting. Otherwise, we risk creating a leaky or “pay-to-emit” system where emitters can simply buy cheap offsets without reducing their own footprints, or the offsets don’t actually reduce overall emissions.

For a deeper dive on the trade-off of carbon offsets, check out Issue #9!

Funding and growth

Mara Renewables (Dartmouth, NS) raised $39.5M for its algae-based food products. Led by John Risley of Clearwater Seafoods, Mara produces oil from algae that is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. The oil has many nutritional benefits, and can replace traditional sources of Omega-3 such as salmon or anchovies, thereby reducing the strain on fish populations and reducing emissions. 

Mangrove Lithium (Vancouver, BC) closed a new round led by BWM i Ventures and returning investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures who led its Series A. The new round brings Mangrove’s total funding to $31.4M. Mangrove’s technology allows them to refine lithium from a range of sources to produce battery-grade lithium. The company will use the funding to develop a commercial plant and drive deployment.

Salient Energy (Dartmouth, NS) secured $200k in loans from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to launch a pilot production facility for its zinc-ion, long-duration storage batteries. 

Alter Biota (Cape Breton, NS), a producer of graphene additives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete, also secured a $95k grant from ACOA.

Phycus Biotechnologies (Cape Breton, NS and Toronto, ON) received $50k to develop its fermentation process for cosmetic ingredients which can replace traditional petroleum-based ingredients. 

RecycleSmart (Richmond, BC) received $5M in funding from the federal government to drive the commercialization and scaling of its Pello waste-management system. RecycleSmart uses IoT to track waste bin data to improve efficiency. 

HTEC (Vancouver, BC) received $5M from the federal PacifiCan program to build a green hydrogen production plant in Burnaby, BC. HTEC provides hydrogen fuel infrastructure, with 17 hydrogen fuelling stations across Canada.

Metrio (Montreal, QC) has been acquired by Nasdaq for an undisclosed amount. Metrio provides services for collecting and reporting on ESG data for companies, which Nasdaq plans to integrate into its existing suite of ESG management tools. 

Growth & milestones

If you only read one: Squamish’s Carbon Engineering announced a major deployment plan with 1PointFive, a subsidiary of oil and gas company Occidental. 

• Through the partnership, Carbon Engineering’s direct air capture (DAC) plants will be mass manufactured, and then assembled onsite. 

• 1PointFive shared an initial scenario that would see 70 DAC plants deployed by 2035. 

• Some of the DAC plants will be used to access hard to recover oil in existing wells, exacerbating concerns that carbon capture can extend the use of fossil fuels

• The modular approach is becoming more common in conventional construction, as mass manufacturing off-site allows for greater efficiency and less waste

Nano One, a developer of solutions to produce low-cost, battery-grade lithium made two big moves, acquiring JM Battery Materials and signing an agreement with BASF to co-develop a process for producing next-gen cathode materials with fewer by-products. 

e-Zinc secured a pilot project with Toyota Tsusho Canada for its long-duration energy storage solutions. The pilot will see excess energy from wind generation stored in e-Zinc’s zinc-air battery. 

Vancouver-based commercial EV producer GreenPower signed a joint venture with Jupiter Wagon Group to help bring its products to the Indian market. 

GHGSat launched three new satellites to carry out its methane leakage monitoring services, doubling the size of its fleet.

Plant-based protein provider Phyto Organix announced plans for a net-zero processing facility in Strathmore, Alberta. The Calgary-based company uses pulses including yellow peas to produce proteins used in meat and dairy alternatives.

Greenwit, a Vancouver-based electric motorcycle producer, reported a record 250% jump in sales in Q1 2022, citing high gas prices, inflation and government incentives. 

Here & there

Corporate Knights named their “50 Fastest-Growing Green Companies in Canada”, featuring companies in clean hydrogen, plant-based foods, EVs, and more.

Check out Copperstone Technologies’ award-winning amphibious robot, designed to monitor the depths of mining tailings ponds.

How CleanO2 proved its carbon-capture solution - by making soap

In The News

The federal government is preparing a new program to work one-on-one with provinces to seize opportunities presented by the transition to a low-carbon economy. The feds also announced $15.2M investments in clean technology for the agriculture industry through the Agricultural Clean Technology program.

“Nobody expected them to lose” - The Ontario Energy Board refused to approve the final phase of a pipeline replacement project by Enbridge. The ruling was largely driven by submissions from the City of Ottawa, whose submission showed a planned decline in the use of natural gas in the city.

The Quebec government announced a $1.2B investment to develop green hydrogen and bioenergy.

New zero-emissions vehicle sales in Canada hit 8.3% in Q1 2022. While still a small percentage of the market, this represents almost a doubling since Q1 2021, which saw EVs make up 4.6% of sales. 

Vancouver implemented a new $10k licence fee for gas stations and parking lots that do not include EV charging stations to help encourage the deployment of charging infrastructure.

South Korea’s DongShin Motech is opening a new plant in Windsor to produce battery casings that will supply the Stellantis-LG facility.

A coalition of investor groups, Climate Engagement Canada, is targeting 40 high-emitting companies to reduce their emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy. 

Opportunities

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions opened a call for proposals for research projects on high-impact climate solutions. Submissions close on August 3rd. 

Genome Canada opened for their Climate Action Genomics Initiative, which aims to fund interdisciplinary teams using genomics to reduce the emissions footprint of agriculture and food systems. 

June 14: Join the founders of Reusables.com, The Aggressive Food and Furniture Link for “Stories of Reuse: Business Model Transformation in Canada”. The event focuses on circular solutions in practice in Canada.

Fun Stuff

Check out Pique Action’s story on Genecis, a Canadian company working on turning food waste into biodegradable plastics. The kicker? Just 12 months for their plastics alternative to break down 🤯

That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for reading and if you’re enjoying the newsletter, consider forwarding to a friend!

Justin