CTC #28 - A new deal for nature and a look back at 2022

Plus - Funding for vertical farms, carbon capture and sustainable returns

Dec 22, 2022

Hey there,

Welcome to the final issue of Climate Tech Canada for 2022! In this issue, we take a look back at the wild ride that was 2022, plus a ton of funding for carbon capture, vertical farms and sustainable returns, and a landmark deal brokered by Canada at COP15 in Montreal. Let’s get into it!

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A look back at 2022

📃 The US Inflation Reduction Act prompted Canada to up its investment in climate, including tax credits for clean energy and a new, $15B fund focused on de-risking climate tech investments and getting new technologies to scale, with more to come in 2023.

🌍 Global energy markets and transition plans were thrown into chaos as Russia invaded Ukraine. The strain on Europe’s natural gas supply led to the Canada–Germany Hydrogen Alliance, and a Canada-Germany supply corridor for exports of “clean” Canadian hydrogen by 2025.

💰 On the funding front, we tracked $3.3B raised by Canadian climate tech companies across 97 different rounds. We also tracked $755M raised by climate-focused venture funds and a monster new fund from Brookfield that raised $15B on its own to back climate solutions.

♻️ 2023 will be a little bit more plastic-free, as Canada’s ban on single-use plastics took effect this month. See how climate innovators are filling the gap in our interview with Friendlier co-founder Kayli Dale.

🇨🇦 Alberta invested in carbon capture, Ontario promoted its EV supply chain sector, a group of provinces backed small modular nuclear reactors, while the maritimes continued the transition from oil to renewables.

🏦 Frontier, backed by Ottawa’s Shopify and other tech heavyweights, launched a $925M advanced market commitment to accelerate carbon removal development.

🦋 COP27 secured a new climate loss and damage fund with support for developing nations, and COP15 in Montreal produced a landmark agreement to protect nature (more in today’s issue 👇 ).

Funding and growth

GoodLeaf Farms (Guelph, ON) raised $150M to expand its vertical farms across Canada. GoodLeaf uses vertical farming to grow microgreens and baby greens year round and close to consumers, reducing emissions from growing and transporting the greens. Previous investor McCain Foods participated in the round.

Svante (Burnaby, BC) raised $433M in Series E funding for its carbon capture technology. The funding will go towards building a manufacturing facility in Vancouver for the beds that hold adsorbents, the material that captures carbon.

Ferme d’Hiver (Brossard, QC) raised $46M for its controlled-environment vertical farms. The funding will be used to build a facility in Quebec that will be able to produce almost one million kg of strawberries each year, equivalent to 10% of Canada’s strawberry imports.

Copperstone Technologies (Edmonton, AB) raised $7.9M in funding for its amphibious robots, designed to help manage hazardous locations like tailings ponds. The funding will allow Copperstone to increase production and develop new models for more demanding applications.

Frate (Toronto, ON) raised $2M in pre-seed funding for its sustainable online returns platform. Frate offers peer-to-peer returns, allowing retailers to ship returns from one customer to another instead of back to a central warehouse, reducing transportation emissions along the way.

CHAR Technologies (Toronto, ON) received $11.3M in funding from Ontario and the federal government to expand its production facility. CHAR converts woody by-products from mills into renewable natural gas and biocarbon.

FuelPositive (Toronto, ON) received $300K from the federal government for its on-site green ammonia fertilizer production systems. The funding will enable FuelPositive to build an at-scale demonstration system in Manitoba.

Next Hydrogen (Mississauga, ON) received $5M from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to develop second and third generation electrolyzers. Next Hydrogen uses an alkaline water electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen from renewable energy.

Innovobot (Montreal, QC) secured $14M for its seed-stage “deep tech for good” fund. The fund is aiming for $40M total and will focus on investments with positive environmental and social impact.

InBC, British Columbia’s investment crown corporation, invested in three VC funds focused on climate tech and advancing reconciliation: Evok Innovations Fund II, Raven Capital Fund II, and Yaletown’s Innovation Growth Fund II. Each investment is between $5M and $10M.

Milestones & Growth

Frontier, backed by Ottawa-based Shopify and others, announced an additional $11M to support carbon removal projects through advanced market commitments.

Enbridge launched a new Energy-as-a-Service business, Enbridge Sustain, to offer clean energy solutions in Ontario.

FLO, a Quebec-based EV charging network operator, will supply GM with 40,000 L2 chargers. It’s the largest order of chargers in North America ever, and will be used in GM’s community charging program to expand charging access in under-served communities.

In the news

Canada brokered a massive deal to protect nature at COP 15. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commits nations to protect 30% of the world’s land and water by 2030. The agreement is backed by commitments to mobilize $200B per year and for wealthy countries to increase funding for developing nations to $30B by 2030.

Other announcements from COP:

$5.8M for Indigenous climate solutions through the existing Natural Climate Solutions initiative
$800M for Indigenous-led conservation projects as part of the commitment to conserve 30% of land and water by 2030.
$20.6M for the Canada-Yukon Nature Agreement which will advance nature conservation across the territory

Outside COP, the feds announced $3M for Energy Peers in Indigenous Communities Network, a capacity-building program to increase Indigenous participation in the renewable energy sector and fund projects.

The feds are floating subsidies for the production costs of large EV battery manufacturers in an effort to respond to the incentives offered in the US through the IRA and keep plants in Canada

Canada released its implementation plan as part of the coalition to end new public support for fossil fuels established at last year’s COP26. The plan includes ending new, direct public financing for international unabated fossil fuel investments.

Carbon-capture projects in B.C. will be eligible for the federal carbon-capture tax credit, previously only available in Alberta and Saskatchewan, after the province’s regulations for the sector were approved by Environment Canada in November.

Fondaction Asset Management, Quebec’s labour fund, launched a new $115M fund for projects that reduce GHG emissions in Canada and that generate credits on compliance or voluntary carbon markets.

Nova Scotia announced its new climate action plan, with targets to cut emissions to 53 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and go net-zero by 2050. The plan includes 68 specific actions, including pursuing 80% renewable energy by 2030.

Newfoundland opened 1.7M hectares of land to bids for wind energy projects. This comes after a “land nomination” process and public consultations to ensure public support for future projects.

The Northwest Territories is investing $2.26M over three years to electrify transportation, with rebates for e-bikes, snowmobiles, and charging infrastructure. Transport makes up 55% of NWT’s emissions.

Yukon also announced a new EV data-collection pilot, offering a 75% ZEV rebate for heavy- and medium-duty EVs in exchange for data-sharing to measure EV performance.

What’s going on

💡 The Quebec Cleantech Investment Challenge: The challenge will support 15 climate tech ventures through investor readiness, while preparing up-and-coming investors to invest. Applications for startups close February 17th; Investor applications close March 17th.

💡 Google For Startups - Climate Change: A 10 week accelerator program for seed and Series A climate tech startups in North America. Applications close January 19th.

💡 Project Zero Incubator: Providing early-stage climate ventures in BC with coaching, workshops and resources to get off the ground. Applications open in January.

💡 Startup TNT Cleantech Investment Summit: This pitch contest for early stage startups aims to help startups raise money and introduce new Angel investors to the sector. Open to startups in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, applications close January 24th.

💡 Project Greenlight: The City of Vancouver is looking for startups to pilot their zero waste solutions at a new Zero Waste Demonstration site. Applications close on January 31st.