CTC #35 - Canada responds to the IRA

Hey there,

Welcome to another issue of Climate Tech Canada! A new federal budget dropped, expanding clean investment tax credits to clean energy development and hydrogen. We’ll dive into all the details.

Elsewhere, Biden visited JT in Ottawa where the overwhelming theme was cooperation between the two countries, particularly on climate. Ontario introduced its budget which included a new voluntary clean energy credit system and TD commits to mobilizing $500B for climate investments. 

There was a ton of funding action this week across sustainable aviation fuels, metal extraction technology, plant-based materials, and more. I also just released my interview with Carbon Neutral Club co-founder Jack Bruner, who announced their $1.4M Seed round last week. 

💰 Funding and growth

Carbon Neutral Club (Toronto, ON) closed $1.4M in Seed funding for their sustainable employee engagement platform. Carbon Neutral Club helps employees make more sustainable choices while driving down Scope 3 emissions. The funding will help Carbon Neutral Club enter new markets, accelerate the product roadmap and grow their team. 

Evoco (Toronto, ON) raised $12M in Series B funding for its high-performance plant-based materials. Evoco’s materials are used by Vans and Timberland among others to replace petroleum-based materials. The funding will allow Evoco to expand its product line and explore new verticals. 

Svante (Burnaby, BC) added $15M USD to it’s Series E round from United Airline’s Sustainable Flight Fund. Svante develops carbon capture technology for hard-to-decarbonize industries. United plans to use the captured carbon to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).

3E Nano (Toronto, ON) raised $5.3M in Seed funding for its innovative window technology. 3E Nano produces nano coatings for glass that reduce energy use and manage heat and light transmission.

ChopValue (Vancouver, BC) raised $10.3M in funding to expand its line of home and office products made from recycled chopsticks. ChopValue upcycles chopsticks into new products using decentralized microfactories that are close to local resources and demand.

pH7 Technologies (Vancouver, BC) raised $16M in funding for its non-toxic metal extraction technology. pH7 claims the process results in 99% lower CO2 equivalent and is 95% more energy efficient.

Bio Graphene Solutions (Toronto, ON) secured a strategic investment for an undisclosed amount from Reflect Advanced Materials. Bio Graphene Solutions uses nanotechnology to produce graphene from organic materials, replacing higher carbon materials used in concrete and asphalt.

OTHER FUNDING

B.C.’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund announced $7M in funding for seven projects from climate tech companies. Recipients include:

• Miru Smart Technologies - smart electrochromic windows that tint automatically and reduce home energy use

• Pani Energy - AI-powered optimization tools for water-treatment plants that reduce energy and chemical use

VueReal (Waterloo, ON) received $10.5M from the federal and Ontario governments. VueReal’s technology allows them to produce more environmentally-friendly semiconductors with lower power consumption. The funding will support VueReal’s expansion plans to boost manufacturing and fabrication.

Lactanet Canada (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec) received $890K from Alberta Innovates to evaluate methane efficiency in dairy cattle through genetic evaluation. 

OYA Renewables (Toronto, ON) secured $27M in backing from City National Bank to develop community solar projects in New York state. OYA develops and operates utility-scale solar projects across North America.

Aduro Clean Technologies (Sarnia, ON) raised $3.9M in funding through a private placement. The funding will be used to continue developing Aduro’s chemical recycling technology.

Carbon Neutral Royalty (Vancouver, BC) raised $25M from Beedie Investment. CNR is a permanent capital vehicle focused on funding decarbonization projects that generate carbon credits.

📈 Milestones & Growth

Carbon Removal Canada, a new organization focused on advancing Canada as a leader in the carbon removal space, announced its soft-launch. CRC comes from the great folks behind The Carbon Curve, one of my favourite climate podcasts.

ARC Clean Technology will deploy their small modular reactors in Alberta with support from Invest Alberta.

Rio Tinto launched its BlueSmelting demonstration plant that will produce steel and other metals with 95% less emissions.

Portable Electric partnered with Volvo to offer their silent, emission-free mobile generator through Volvo’s North American dealers.

Ontario Power Generation is teaming up with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and others to support the development and deployment of GEH’s new BWRX-300 Small Nuclear Reactor.

TD Bank launched a new “Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target” to mobilize $500B in financing and support for environmental, decarbonization, and social initiatives.

Three Sixty Solar’s vertical solar towers will be part of the infrastructure behind a new broadband network being deployed in B.C. 

🌎 In the news

Canada responds to the IRA. The federal government’s 2023 budget is packed with supports for climate investment. It doesn’t match the Inflation Reduction Act dollar-for-dollar, but it sets a pretty solid and coherent foundation across various stages of scale-up. Highlights for climate tech:

• Clean energy: 15% investment tax credit for clean energy development; $10B from the Canada Infrastructure Bank earmarked for Clean Power and Green Infrastructure; and $3B  for clean energy programs through Natural Resources Canada. Key to meet net-zero grid by 2035 AND meet rising energy demands from electrification

• Climate tech: a new 30% investment tax credit for clean technology manufacturing. $500M to the Strategic Innovation Fund to support the development and application of clean technologies, while earmarking $1.5B of the Fund’s existing resources to similar projects. Geothermal is also now included under the existing clean tech investment credit.

• Major projects: $1.3B over six years to various regulatory agencies like Impact Assessment Canada to process major projects more efficiently.

• Hydrogen: Investment tax credits for 15-30% of project costs depending on carbon intensity of hydrogen products, and a 15% credit for hydrogen manufacturing and transport equipment.

• Carbon capture: The CCUS tax credit was expanded to include more methods. Notably, the tax credit itself has not increased, and Alberta is expected to announce new supports for CCUS projects.

President Biden visited Ottawa to talk cooperation on climate, critical minerals and more. The two countries will work together on supports for electric vehicles and critical minerals, long duration energy storage, and small nuclear reactors. An “energy transformation” task force was also announced to accelerate cooperation on clean energy and supply chains.

Ontario’s new budget emphasized climate tech as an important and growing sector, but contained few new supports. Highlights include a new tax credit to support manufacturing in the province, support for critical minerals exploration, $70.5B for transit and a new voluntary Clean Energy Credit Registry.

The feds updated the national framework for managing nuclear waste and decommissioning

Natural Resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson visited Berlin to promote Canada as a clean energy supplier of choice 

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association launched a new national workforce strategy to meet the sectors skilled labour needs

📢 What’s going on

🏆 BC Cleantech Awards: Foresight Canada announced the winners of this year’s awards, including Moment Energy for “Startup of the Year” and Svante for “Scaling Venture of the Year”.

💡 Call for proposals: Natural Resources Canada is seeking applications for Indigenous-led projects that will increase EV awareness or deploy EV chargers in public spaces. Applications open on April 20th.

💡 Ocean Communities Climate Challenge: Hosted by the Ocean Startup Project, this competition is seeking applicants working on monitoring and predicting ocean conditions, carbon neutral port communities, fostering circular economy activity and protecting and leveraging natural resources. Applications close May 11th.

💡 National Construction and Demolition Circular Innovation Challenge: This competition is looking for innovative circular ideas in the construction, renovation & demolition sector. Selected projects will receive $15K and access to COIL’s resources and network. Applications are open until April 21st.

📌 Jobs

Featured postings from some of Canada’s most innovative companies:

🇨🇦 Director of Government Relations at Carbon Removal Canada (Remote)

🌱 Computational Scientist at erthos (Mississauga, ON)

🏗️ Talent Activation Manager at Nexii Building Solutions (Vancouver, BC)

🔋 Full Stack Developer at GBatteries (Remote, Ottawa, ON)

Have a role you’d like to promote? Drop me a line on Twitter

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and if you’re enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend!

Justin