Mangrove Lithium bridges battery supply gap

TECH

Mangrove Lithium lands industry backers for lithium plant

What happened: Mangrove Lithium is getting ready to build North America’s first electrochemical lithium refining facility, backed by $50.4 million in new funding. The plant, located in Delta, B.C., will produce enough battery-grade materials to power 25,000 electric vehicles per year.

Several major industrial players joined the round, including Mitsubishi, Asahi Kasei, and existing investor BMW i Ventures.

The tech: Mangrove is developing an electrochemical process that can directly convert lithium chloride and lithium sulfate from a wide variety of sources into battery-grade lithium hydroxide ready for EV battery production. 

The process can use brines, hard rock, clay or recycled batteries as raw material and then uses an electrochemical treatment to remove impurities and refine the chemical composition. The result is battery-grade materials that are ready for EV production.

Why it matters: Global EV adoption is facing a critical bottleneck in battery-grade lithium, with China currently dominating refining capacity. By building out domestic lithium refining, Mangrove Lithium offers both better production efficiency and an alternative source of lithium. 

Bringing together Mitsubishi's global supply chain expertise and Asahi Kasei's materials science knowledge signals strong commercial validation for Mangrove's approach.

What's next: Mangrove Lithium will use the new funding to complete construction of its Delta facility, scheduled to begin operations later this year. By constructing a round with industrial, government, and private capital, Mangrove can tap into valuable experience in industrial-scale development and project financing.

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CLIMATE CAPITAL

🥗 Knead Technologies closed an $800,000 pre-seed round for its food rescue app. BDC’s Thrive Lab, ScaleGood and UCeed Social Impact Fund participated. Knead’s software matches food rescue organizations with local food donors.

🏭 Ionada Canada received $4.7 million from Natural Resource Canada for a demonstration project for cost-effective carbon capture and sequestration. The feds also provided $6.19 million for CCUS research projects at the Universities of Calgary and Alberta.

🌲 Manulife raised $480 million for its Manulife Forest Climate Fund, which invests in sustainably managed forests where carbon sequestration is prioritized over timber production.

🚀 Foresight Canada, Light House Sustainability Society, and Creative Destruction Lab – Vancouver received almost $5.3 million from the federal government for climate and sustainability-focused business accelerator programs.

🧪 The Verschuren Centre received more than $1 million from the Nova Scotia government to scale up its biomanufacturing plant. The centre supports startups developing bio-based dyes, bio-based plastics, and more.

🚙 Linamar, an Ontario-based autoparts maker, is investing $1.1 billion into zero- and low-emission vehicle manufacturing, backed by almost $270 million in government funding.

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

🔋 E3 Lithium successfully produced battery-quality lithium from its brine extraction technology, hitting 99.71% purity at its demonstration-scale site.

♻️ Li-Cycle will recycle lithium-ion battery materials at its Germany plant in a new partnership with a premium electric vehicle maker.

❄️ Svante partnered with Speed Skating Canada to raise awareness about climate change and the need for carbon capture and removal.

🌋 Geothermal company DEEP partnered with oil services giant Schlumberger to build a geothermal power plant in Saskatchewan.

NEWS

Rethinking trade relationships

What happened: Canada narrowly averted a trade war after negotiating a 30-day delay on U.S. tariffs. The U.S. threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy. Canada responded by threatening tariffs on select U.S. imports with more planned later this month.

Why it matters: For climate tech companies, these developments compound the challenges created by the rollback of portions of the IRA. Canadian companies are building production plants in the U.S. or planned to sell to a growing U.S. customer base for low-carbon tech.

The Canada Cleantech Alliance advised startups to aggressively manage cash and supply chains to control the impact of a lower Canadian dollar, and clearly outline the impact of tariffs on customer billing. 

Companies should also start looking at Canadian customers who need to cut their own cost of production, and diversifying markets beyond the U.S. Companies in B.C. are already redirecting critical minerals and energy products to alternative markets. 

The bottom line: While the tariffs are delayed for now, many industry leaders argue that Canada needs to rethink its relationship with its biggest market and build out long-term solutions for economic autonomy.

IN THE NEWS

🤝 Shell swaps oilsands for carbon capture: Shell Canada is exiting the oilsands, swapping its remaining ownership in an oilsands project for a bigger stake in an upgrader and the Quest carbon capture and storage hub. The move is part of Shell’s shift towards assets with lower emissions. 

🥕 Carney pitches climate carrots, not sticks: Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney unveiled his climate plan, promising to remove the consumer “carbon tax” and instead focus on giving Canadians incentives to cut emissions. The plan includes incentives for energy efficiency upgrades and buying EVs, as well as carbon border-adjustments, cut credit oversupply in the industrial carbon market, and speed up clean energy projects.

🌱 Putting nature on the balance sheet: Nature and ecosystems provide many critical services but often go unrecognized in government planning. A new report from the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation wants to help local governments integrate ecosystem services into their financial planning. The guide offers communities ways to track, value, and protect these natural assets in decision-making.

💨 Carbon removal standard: The federal government released a proposed protocol for Direct Air Carbon Dioxide Capture and Geological Storage. The protocol is aimed at increasing confidence in credits generated by direct air capture and stimulating investment in the emerging industry. Credits generated under the protocol could generate credits under Canada’s offset credit system.

🚒 Expanding disaster relief: Canada introduced changes to its disaster relief program to mitigate the impact of future disasters. That includes building infrastructure to mitigate future damage, discourage rebuilding in high-risk areas, and deploy funds faster after disasters.

BIG PICTURE

Recapping Trump’s attack on clean energy funding

The cost of EV chargers is falling

Nat Bullard’s annual energy transition deck just dropped

What’s in store for alt proteins in 2025

First Movers Coalition is creating demand signals for industrial decarb

The EU launched a new biotech and biomanufacturing hub

COMMUNITY

🗓️ Carbon Removal Day 2025: Hosted by Carbon Removal Canada, this all day event explores current solutions in action, how we can continue to drive innovation, build an inclusive industry, and create the conditions for scaling carbon removal technologies. February 27th, Ottawa.

🚀 Project Zero: Project Zero’s business incubator program offers a foundation of entrepreneurial skills and circular economy expertise for entrepreneurs building a regenerative circular economy. Apply by March 3rd.

💻️ Lite-1 is hiring a Biomanufacturing Lab Assistant to develop new sustainable colours for the dye industry.

➡️ Find more open roles.