Supercharging the ocean's carbon sinks

TECH

Planetary closes Series A to advance ocean carbon removal

What happened: Planetary Technologies closed a $15.8 million Series A to accelerate the ocean’s carbon-removing abilities. The round was led by Evok Innovations and included BDC Capital, Amplify Capital and others. 

The Halifax-based startup leverages the ocean’s natural carbon-absorbing abilities using a process called ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). The process works by adding alkaline materials like crushed limestone into the ocean which then converts CO2 into stable bicarbonate. This creates a deficit of CO2 in surface water, allowing more atmospheric CO2 to be absorbed.

Why it matters: Carbon removal is a key tool for reaching climate targets. About 8 gigatonnes of CO2 need to be removed every year by 2050. Existing methods have only delivered about 12 megatonnes so far, and face challenges with scale, cost, and durability. While OAE is a relatively new form of carbon removal, it has high potential for gigatonne-scale carbon removal:

• Minimal land use and energy requirements compared to other carbon removal methods

• Long-term, durable storage

• Potential for gigaton-scale carbon removal and $100/t price point

• Co-benefits like combating ocean acidification which impacts coral reefs and shellfish

Planetary and CarbonRun are the only two companies in Canada pursuing ocean and river alkalinity enhancement, but lead the sector in delivered tonnes of removals.

Keys to success: Planetary’s emphasis on science and community engagement is critical. Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for ocean-based removal is challenging in a dynamic ocean environment, and current data is largely based on modelling, with few real world pilots. There are also open questions about the impact on ecosystems, biodiversity, and feedback effects.

Planetary is blazing the way here, with pilots ready or planned in the UK, Maryland, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver that will offer up critical data.

What’s next: The fresh capital is a vote of confidence for Planetary and OAE. Planetary plans to use the funding to accelerate pilot projects, scale its operations, and develop robust measurement and verification protocols.

CLIMATE CAPITAL

🔋 Moment Energy (Surrey, BC) was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a $28.2 million award to set up a manufacturing facility in the U.S. Moment Energy repurposes used batteries from EVs for battery energy storage systems.

🌊 Open Ocean Robotics (Victoria, BC) closed $2.8M in funding led by Singapore’s Antares and Spring Impact Capital. Open Ocean Robotics develops solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles for remote ocean monitoring. 

🚌 NFI Group (Winnipeg, MB) received $15 million from the federal government to expand its manufacturing operations for electric and hydrogen fuel-cell buses. NFI subsidiary New Flyer of America also announced an order for 108 fuel cell buses from California.

💧 EverWind Fuels (Cape Breton, NS) will also receive up to $22.5 million from the feds for green hydrogen and ammonia production and transport infrastructure.

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

💨 Philanthropic carbon removal buyer Terraset purchased 5,000 tonnes of CO2 removals from a group of carbon removal companies including Ottawa’s TerraFixing and Halifax’s Planetary Technologies.

🔋 NextStar Energy, a Stellantis and LG Energy joint venture, started production at its battery manufacturing plant in Ontario

🚌 NFI Group’s US subsidiary New Flyer of America also announced an order for 108 fuel cell buses from California.

🔌 Toronto-based EV charging software company ChargeLab partnered with ChargeHub to offer roaming access to ChargeLab’s chargers

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IN THE NEWS

🚫 Startups are still waiting for critical funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to resume. SDTC paused funding in October 2023 due to governance issues. The agency said application processing would resume months ago. Parliament has been deadlocked for weeks as opposition MPs push for the government to release more documents. 

🤝 Industry leaders call on provinces to work together on carbon markets. Led by Clean Prosperity, the call includes national associations from various heavy industries as well as industry leaders like LaFarge and Heidelberg Materials. The group wants to see provinces align and pool their carbon credit markets to make it easier to fund large-scale decarbonization projects.

⚡️ Ontario will roll out an integrated energy strategy to meet a 75% demand increase. The plan will include a planning horizon out to 2050, expand energy efficiency programs, and aims to position the province as an energy exporter. The plan includes a noticeable emphasis on natural gas as part of a “gradual energy transition”. 

🔋 Quebec’s stake in battery maker Northvolt is in question as the struggling firm looks to secure funding from Goldman Sachs. Goldman wants access to the assets of Northvolt’s Quebec subsidiary as collateral, giving it priority to recover funds if the battery maker goes bankrupt.

🏭️ The Canada Growth Fund could back the Pathways Alliance’s massive carbon capture project. The agency submitted a proposal to the consortium of oil sands producers. Negotiations will likely take months and the Pathways project is more complex - and looking for much stronger terms - than past carbon capture deals.

BIG PICTURE

Germany approved a €19B national hydrogen network

Electric air taxis could take off in the U.S. next year with new FAA rules, while electric aircraft startup closes shop

Zap Energy unveils its new fusion prototype 

The Carbon Removal Alliance launched a roadmap for MRV and COP29 could open new opportunities for carbon markets

How to gracefully wind-down a deeptech venture 

Switzerland pilots solar panel train tracks 

More than 500 organizations will start reporting on nature and biodiversity impacts

COMMUNITY

🚀 Women in Climate Tech Call for Innovation: CICE is investing up to $3 million in climate tech and clean energy ventures led by women. Join the webinar to learn more. Nov 5th, Online.

🗓️ Ottawa Climate Meetup: Connect with Ottawa’s climate community! Join us for a guest speaker and ecosystem mapping activity. Nov 14th, Ottawa.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

💻️ Carbonhound is hiring a Bilingual Climate Action Specialist to grow their customer onboarding experience and help make carbon management easy and accessible.

➡️ Find more open roles.