Laying the groundwork for low-carbon concrete

TECH

Carbon Upcycling lands $24.5M to deploy low-carbon cement

What happened: Carbon Upcycling closed a $24.5 million investment from Builders Vision, the impact investing firm founded by Lukas Walton (of the Walmart Waltons), to scale its carbon capture and utilization (CCU) tech for low-carbon cement.

How it works: Carbon Upcycling turns industrial waste like steel slag or fly ash from coal plants into a cement alternative by reacting it with captured CO2. The process mineralizes the carbon, locking it away permanently.

The result: a material that replaces up to 50% of traditional cement in concrete and improves strength by up to 40%.

Why it matters: Traditional cement has a huge climate footprint. Typically, it’s made by crushing and heating limestone to extremely high temperates. That process uses a huge amount of energy and emits almost one tonne of CO2 for every tonne produced. Carbon Upcycling’s approach can cut emissions by up to 60%.

It also addresses a looming supply issue: Cement makers rely on the ash and slag from coal-fuelled processes, and have to source more of their materials from Asia as coal is phased out in North America and Europe. Carbon Upcycling’s tech can transform lower-quality and under-used feedstocks into a local substitute, reducing cement makers’ reliance on imports.

What’s next: The fresh capital will support the company’s project pipeline including a flagship plant in Mississauga in partnership with materials giant CRH, plus future projects with TITAN Group and other industry partners.

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CLIMATE CAPITAL

💧 Xatoms (Toronto, ON) secured a $3 million pre-seed round for its water purification platform led by Quantacet. Xatoms uses quantum chemistry and AI to identify photocatalysts, materials that react with sunlight to purify water.

⛏️ Torngat Metals (Montreal, QC), a rare earth mining company, closed $165 million in financing from EDC and the Canada Infrastructure Bank to support pre-construction studies for mines in Quebec and Labrador.

IN THE FIELD

♻️ pH7 Technologies successfully processed 250 tonnes of end-of-life materials, extracting over 3,000 ounces of platinum group metals, saving 27 million litres of water and 14,000 mWh. The company plans to scale to 25,000 tonnes by 2028.

🏭️ Entropy acquired a stake in three carbon hubs, including commercial contracts and IP, expanding its CCS operations.

🧯 FireSwarm Solutions partnered with renewable energy developer Innergex to test FireSwarm’s drone-based fire suppression platform at sites across B.C.

🧱 CarbiCrete, a low-carbon concrete startup, will expand into Europe, producing cement-free blocks in France with POINT.P, a subsidiary of materials giant Saint-Gobain.

🔌 ChargeLab, an EV charging software platform, launched OpenOCPP, an open-source communication standard for EV chargers to simplify development for hardware manufacturers.

⚛️ GE Vernova will build a nuclear engineering centre in Ontario to support Ontario’s fleet of SMRs.

🐟️ New School Foods, an alternative protein startup, plans to expand beyond plant-based seafood and make other types of meat alternatives.

🌱 Hempalta, a hemp-based carbon startup, issued an open call for strategic partners to scale its nature-based carbon removal solution in Alberta. Hempalta sequesters biochar made from hemp.

🤝 Cycle Momentum, a cleantech accelerator, is launching a partnership with 2 Degrés and the Vallée de la Transition Énergétique to support 100 startups from lab to commercialization over the next three years.

💧 Hydrogen fuel cell maker Ballard appointed a new CEO after facing a challenging market and scrapping plans for a manufacturing plant in China. Another plant in Texas is up in the air because of uncertainty around government policy and market adoption.

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NEWS

📡 Signals & Currents

⛏️ G7 targets critical mineral choke points: Countries plan to coordinate economic corridors and standardized markets for critical minerals to counter China’s dominance. [The Logic]

🌊 Feds fund climate resilience: Canada will invest $6.8M in flood mapping and adaptation projects [Canada]

🏘️ BC pilot electrifies density: BC Hydro will test new smart hub panels that allow multi-unit buildings to electrify without major service upgrades. [BC Gov]

📈 La Caisse ups climate capital: Quebec’s pension fund committed $400B to climate investments by 2030, one of the biggest commitments from a major institutional investor amid an “anti-ESG” backlash. [ESG Today]

🚗 EV growth could slow beyond 2025: BloombergNEF forecasts record EV sales in 2025, but slower momentum afterwards due to policy shifts and slowing U.S. demand. [Electric Autonomy]

✈️ Amazon bets on sustainable cargo flights: Amazon Air buys more than 9 million lites of sustainable aviation fuel. [ESG Today]

🛢️ LNG emissions cuts within reach: Emissions from LNG supply chains could be cut by 60% with existing tech. [IEA]

COMMUNITY

🚀 Tailings Technology Challenge: Alberta is putting up $50M for the scale-up, pilot, and deployment of solutions to reduce and manage oil sands mine water and tailings. Apply by September 24th.

➡️ Discover more funding opportunities.

🗓️ Info Session - Toronto Climate Week: Join our friends at Toronto Climate Week to learn more about the event - what it is, how it works, and how to get involved! The inaugural event will take place Oct 1-3rd, turning into a week-long event starting June 2026. July 10th.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🧑🏻‍💻 New School Foods is hiring an Executive Assistant to accelerate the transition to a kinder, healthier, alt-protein-first food system.

➡️ Find more open roles.