Philanthropy for the future

TECH

Keeping cool with ChillSkyn

What happened: Montreal-based ChillSkyn closed an initial $1.94 million in seed funding from TandemLaunch Ventures, Cycle Momentum, and a group of angel investors for its passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) technology.

The tech: ChillSkyn is developing nanomaterial coatings that can cool surfaces by reflecting solar radiation back into space. The material emits heat as infrared radiation at a specific wavelength that can pass through the atmosphere to space. ChillSkyn's material can leave surfaces 6 degrees below ambient temperature.

The passive system enhances cooling in refrigerated transportation, battery storage, and buildings. The result is less energy needed to run traditional HVAC and cooling systems.

Why it matters: Keeping cool is a vicious cycle under climate change: warmer temperatures drive up the use of cooling systems, which then emit more GHGs and lead to higher temperatures. Developing regions are particularly affected. Many are warming rapidly and are adopting air conditioning as temperatures and incomes increase.

Current cooling methods are energy-intensive and use refrigerants that are 1,000 to 9,000 times more potent than CO2. The sector accounts for about 20% of global electricity consumption and as much as 7% of global emissions.

Passive cooling systems have the potential to reduce the energy needed to keep people, infrastructure and food cool.

What's next: ChillSkyn plans to use the fresh capital to expand into high-impact sectors like cold chain logistics and battery energy storage systems. 

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

♻️ pH7 Technologies (Burnaby, BC) received $1.5 million from the feds for their closed-loop, low-impact metal extraction process. The capital will be used to buy equipment.

🔌 JPlug.io, an Ottawa-based startup developing EV charging solutions for multi-unit residential buildings, took home second place at Invest Ottawa’s Immigrant Founder Launchpad. JPlug, led by serial entrepreneurs Jorge Pantoja and Mark Mossen, is currently raising.

💨 DeepSky sold 10,000 carbon removal credits to a group of buyers including RBC and Microsoft that will see DeepSky remove 10,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere over a 10 year period. 

🌊 Also on the carbon removal front, Planetary Technologies delivered 138 tonnes of carbon removals, the world’s first using ocean alkalinity enhancement.

⛽️ Air Canada bought 77.6 million litres of Sustainable Aviation Fuel from Finland’s Neste. The purchase is part of the airline’s goal for SAF to make up 1% of it’s 2025 jet fuel.

🧱 Carbon Upcycling’s low-carbon cement can deliver 30% stronger concrete with 12% less cement according to the results of a new study with the Minnesota Department of Transportation

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NEWS

Wealthy families and foundations put up $405M to unlock climate action

What happened: A group of Canada’s wealthiest families and foundations are putting up $405 million for climate action over the next 10 years.

The initiative was started by a $100 million contribution from the Ivey Foundation, which created the Clean Economy Fund to rally more funds to follow suit. The program now includes $250 million from the Trottier and Gilgan foundations, with the balance coming from the likes of Carbon Engineering founder David Keith and the family office of ex-Shopify CMO Craig Miller.

Why it matters: Venture capital and public funding often take centre stage, but philanthropy is an important part of the climate funding stack. Deployed effectively, philanthropic grants help reduce the risk for private investors and close critical gaps in funding like first-of-a-kind projects, early stage research or bridging from seed to scale. 

Philanthropic capital often doesn’t require a financial return on investment and can instead prioritize impact that might be higher risk. 

What’s the context: Philanthropy is a big sector in Canada, with over $11 billion donated in 2023. But less than 1% is allocated to climate solutions. 

Climate is a hard space to enter because of its technical complexity and challenges assessing the effectiveness of projects, particularly for smaller foundations with limited resources. Because of this, many funds in the space focus on areas they’re familiar with, like nature conservation and policy advocacy.

The Clean Economy Fund plans to help more foundations get active in the space by acting as a hub for research and insights, building connections between funds, and creating full-service funding vehicles.

What’s next: The group is focused on five priority areas including clean energy, industry, agriculture and impact on people and democracy.

IN THE NEWS

💰️ Canada launched a $2B fund to harness public and private funds for climate change at COP29. The public-private partnership is called GAIA and includes Mitsubishi Financial Group, the Green Climate Fund, and a $160M from Canada through FinDev Canada. 70% of funding is allocated for adaptation, with the remainder for “least developed” and small island states.

📉 VC funds aren’t prioritizing climate and sustainability according to a new report from BDC. Just 10% of firms have plans to be carbon neutral by 2030, down from 18%. 21% measure and report emissions from portcos. The decline may be related to an ESG backlash in the U.S., but the persistently low numbers show there’s more VCs can be doing.

🔋 Quebec’s battery industry gets a $330M leg up from governments. The federal and Quebec governments announced funding to expand port infrastructure and storage capacity for Bécancour Port and Industrial Park. Bécancour is at the heart of Quebec’s battery sector. Alberta also announced $40M for an Advanced Materials Challenge to develop circular solutions across industries including critical minerals.

🌲 Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories secured $375M for land stewardship. The project uses a Project Finance for Permanence model, which pools financing from government, foundations and individual donors to provide long-term support for entire regions. Indigenous partners plan to protect almost 233,000 hectares, or about 2% of Canada.

🚚 Lion Electric is considering a sale due to ongoing cashflow issues. The Quebec electric bus manufacturer is exploring different funding options including a sale. Lion has laid off 520 employees this year, and losses of $131 million.

BIG PICTURE

Can the COP process be saved?

Shell won an appeal against a landmark ruling that ordered the company to cut its emissions by 45%

30+ companies, including Amazon and IKEA, are kickstarting demand for low-carbon freight shipping

IKEA is also investing $1.6B to decarbonize heating and cooling at its stores

The European Investment Bank will pledge €500 million to help guarantee financing for climate tech companies

The ISO launched new principles to create more consistent ESG performance and reporting

BETA Technologies completed the first test flight of its electric airplane

The U.S. implemented a $900/tonne methane fee for big oil and gas producers

COMMUNITY

🗓️ CICE CONVERGE 2024: ​Connect with leaders, innovators, and builders from B.C.’s business and climate-first community for a half-day event focused on advancing a net-zero economy.  Vancouver, Nov 26th.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🚀 OSN Next-Gen Nitrogen Challenge: The Ontario Soil Network is seeking innovative solutions to optimize Ontario farming operations’ nitrogen use efficiency, boost soil health, and enhance farm profitability. Apply by Jan 17th.

💻️ New School Foods is hiring a Data Engineer to build the data collection and processing systems for its plant-based seafood production lines.

➡️ Find more open roles.