The Climate Cycle

Climate Tech Canada

Canada’s climate tech podcast. In each episode, we sit down with the founders, investors and change-makers building climate solutions in Canada. We’re on a mission to amplify the work of Canadian founders, explore the generational opportunity in building solutions, and inspire people to make the leap into climate tech. Get the latest Canadian climate tech news, funding announcements, job postings, events and more in our weekly newsletter at Climate Tech Canada.

  1. JAN 22

    How Data Centres Are Reshaping the Grid with Sam Hasty, Active Impact Investments

    AI data centres are consuming electricity at unprecedented rates, creating anxiety about grid stability, power bills, and backsliding on climate progress by firing up natural gas generators to meet demand. But done right, this load growth could actually make electricity cheaper, accelerate grid modernization, and pull forward technologies that weren't economically viable two years ago. We talk to Sam Hasty, a Partner at early stage climate tech fund Active Impact Investments, about what’s actually happening with data centre energy demand, why load growth could actually lower electricity prices, and what it takes to sell to risk-averse utilities. More → Sign up for our weekly briefing. Get the latest deals, market insights, and policy signals in Canadian climate tech → Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts → Feedback or guest ideas: hello@climatetechcanada.ca Links Lawrence Berkeley studyThinkLabsThe Power LaweBoysThe Courage to be Disliked

    56 min

  2. JAN 8

    Can We Scale Critical Minerals Without Scaling Pollution?

    Electrification depends on critical minerals — but mining and processing them remains one of the dirtiest, most constrained parts of the clean energy transition. While countries like Canada are rich in mineral resources, much of what’s mined still ships overseas as raw concentrate, leaving refining - and control - elsewhere. We talk to Mohammad Doostmohammadi, CEO of pH7 Technologies, to unpack an overlooked bottleneck in the critical minerals value chain: processing and refining. His team has developed a closed-loop process that extracts critical metals with near-zero emissions and no wastewater - replacing chemical consumption with electricity. 📬 Subscribe to our weekly briefing. Get the latest deals, market insights, and policy signals in Canadian climate tech. → Enjoying the show? Help us grow by leaving a rating or review. → Show notes for this episode → Follow us on LinkedIn → Send feedback and episode ideas to hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    43 min

  3. 2025-12-11

    Scaling Climate Tech Inside Heavy Industry: Lessons from the Field

    What does it actually take to build first-of-a-kind climate projects inside some of the world’s most risk-averse industries? In this episode, three leaders share how they’re scaling climate hard tech in the real world. Saad Dara from Mangrove Lithium, on scaling electrochemical lithium refining and standing up their first commercial plant Sean Lowrie from Arca shares how they’re deploying carbon mineralization at active mines and integrating carbon removal into mining operations Jonathan Rhone from CO280 on partnering with pulp and papers mills to scale carbon removal and building a pipeline of billion-dollar projects across North America. Recorded live at Converge 2025, hosted by NorthX. Three home-grown leaders building the next generation of industry in Canada and around the world. In this episode, we cover: The real challenges of moving from lab validation to commercial scaleHow to work with large industrial partners and navigate risk-averse industriesTactical lessons from building pilot plants and hundred-million-dollar projectsThe economic edge for Canada to transform existing industryIf you’re building in climate tech - or trying to understand how hard-tech companies actually scale - this episode offers three grounded, first-hand perspectives from the people working to transform industry and move the needle on climate change. 📬 ⁠Sign up for our weekly briefing⁠ to get the latest deals, real-world projects, and policy signals in Canadian climate tech. More → ⁠Show notes for this episode⁠ → Support the show by leaving a review on Spotify or Apple! → Follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ → Send feedback and episode ideas to ⁠⁠hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    55 min

  4. 2025-11-27

    Backing the Builders: NorthX's playbook for scaling climate tech with Sarah Goodman

    In this episode, I’m joined by Sarah Goodman, President and CEO of NorthX. NorthX deploys non-dilutive catalytic capital at the early stages of commercialization, where founders face high risk, limited funding options, and a real need for industry traction. Their model has now supported more than 80 projects and helped unlock nearly half a billion dollars in follow-on investment from commercial partners and investors. In this episode: The unique challenges faced by early-stage hardtechWhy NorthX thinks like a VC fund to deploy non-dilutive fundingHow catalytic capital unlocked real traction for Arca, Mangrove Lithium, Moment Energy and othersWhat founders need to know about securing their first industry partnersWhy Canadian climate startups need to think globally from day oneThe strategic opportunity for Canada to lead on climate techThe NorthX model is truly unique in Canada, and is making real progress on scaling up climate hardtech. If you're interested in how climate tech actually makes it to market, this one's for you. 📬 Sign up for our weekly briefing. Get the latest deals, market insights, and policy signals in Canadian climate tech. Enjoying the show? Help us grow by leaving a rating or review. More → Show notes for this episode → Follow us on LinkedIn → Send feedback and episode ideas to hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    40 min

  5. 2025-11-06

    Is Iron The Future of Long-Duration Energy Storage? with Hayden Smith, FeX Energy

    We sit down with Hayden Smith, founder and CEO of FeX Energy, to unpack why energy storage matters to the energy transition and how their new iron-based storage solution could challenge incumbent technologies like lithium-ion. FeX is developing an Iron Arc reactor that has the potential to hold energy for days or weeks, and release it as clean energy and high-temperature heat that could power industries like mining, provide heating for buildings, or balance load for the grid. By using one of Earth’s most abundant and affordable materials, FeX aims to close the gap between intermittent renewables and reliable, dispatchable power. In this conversation, we cover: Why energy storage is the “missing link” in the clean-energy transitionHow FeX’s iron-based system compares to lithium and hydrogen storageThe role of long-duration storage in decarbonizing heavy industry and remote sitesWhat Canada needs to do to accelerate storage deployment and grid resilienceHayden’s journey from corporate innovation at Siemens Energy Ventures to climate tech founder📬 Sign up for our weekly briefing to get the latest deals, real-world projects, and policy signals in Canadian climate tech. More → Show notes for this episode → Support the show by leaving a review on Spotify or Apple! → Follow us on LinkedIn → Send feedback and episode ideas to ⁠⁠hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    52 min

  6. 2025-10-23

    Food Sovereignty and Vertical Farming with Corey Ellis, Growcer

    Corey Ellis is the co-founder and CEO of Growcer, an Ottawa-based company building modular farms & food infrastructure used by communities, schools, and grocers across Canada and around the world. We talk about the impact our food system is having on the climate and how vertical farming can help solve those problems. We also talk about lessons learned from the vertical farming hype cycle, Growcer’s $30M infrastructure fund, and building a company for the long-term. About Corey Corey started Growcer in 2014 with his co-founder Alida Burke after seeing firsthand how northern communities struggle with food security. What began as a social enterprise project in Nunavut grew into a mission-driven company tackling food affordability, waste, and access. Growcer has deployed over 800 farms worldwide, acquired its US competitor Freight Farms, and launched a $30M Growcer Fund to finance climate infrastructure. In this conversation, we cover: 7:40 - What’s broken in our food system and why boring problems like distribution and shelf life matter 11:03 - How modular farms cut food waste and fertilizer use - but aren’t a silver bullet 16:51 - How Growcer turned customer criticism into their best R&D engine 19:19 - What real food sovereignty looks like when communities own their infrastructure 24:34 - The “vertical farming” hype cycle and why most players got it wrong 39:37 - Borrowing lessons from real estate to finance climate infrastructure 50:59 - Solving hard problems and building culture from first principles 📬 ⁠⁠Sign up for our weekly briefing⁠⁠ for the latest deals, real-world projects, and policy signals. More → ⁠⁠⁠⁠Show notes & resources for this episode⁠ → Support the show with a review on Spotify and Apple! → Follow us on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ → Send feedback and episode ideas to ⁠⁠hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    56 min

  7. 2025-10-02

    Rewiring Risk and Return in Climate Tech with Kevin Krausert, Avatar Innovations

    Kevin Krausert is the co-founder and CEO of Avatar Innovations, a Canadian venture studio reshaping how energy technologies are developed, funded, and scaled. From Calgary to Houston and beyond, Avatar is working with industry insiders to turn ideas into deployable solutions for the energy transition. Kevin brings a unique perspective to climate tech. He began his career on the rigs in northern Alberta, became CEO of one of Canada’s largest drilling companies, and later co-founded Avatar to bridge the gap between researchers, corporate engineers, and operators. His goal: create a new model of innovation that can move the needle on emissions while making economic sense. Talking Points (6:02) How Avatar’s venture studio model differs from traditional VC and why it may be better suited to capital-intensive energy tech(10:58) The evolution of energy innovation - from wildcatters to corporates to today’s startups - and why the old venture model is breaking down(17:32) The role of corporates, governments, and founders in building smarter risk–return structures to accelerate climate solutions (not just throwing public money at the problem)(21:12) Why Canada is positioned as a “middle power” in climate tech(34:24) Tactics for founders and startups to break through the noise selling to corporatesYou’ll walk away with a clear-eyed look at where energy innovation is headed, what models might actually work in Canada’s climate tech landscape, and how founders can better navigate this uncertain but opportunity-rich moment. Show Notes 📬 ⁠Sign up for our weekly briefing⁠ for the latest deals, real-world projects, and policy signals. More → ⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the full show notes & resources for this episode⁠ → Support the show with a review on Spotify and Apple! → Follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ → Send feedback and episode ideas to ⁠⁠hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    48 min

  8. 2025-09-18

    Hunting Gigacorns with Nelson Switzer, Climate Innovation Capital

    Nelson Switzer is the co-founder of Climate Innovation Capital and author of The Gigacorn Hunter. Nelson’s spent his career at the intersection of capital markets and sustainability, helping corporations, institutional investors, and governments allocate dollars where they can drive the greatest climate impact Talking points: (5:11) The fifth industrial revolution. Nelson explains why the decarbonization of everything is not just a trend but an economic and existential shift. (9:34) “Dollars in motion transform entire sectors.” Why Nelson believes capital allocation - not philanthropy or reports - has the greatest power to drive decarbonization. (13:31) The carbon qualification model. A tactical framework using scale, speed, and cost to evaluate whether a climate solution can bend the carbon curve. (21:42) Building trust with investors. Advice for founders on how they can build trust with potential investors - even if they don’t have totally complete data. (31:13) Opportunities in today’s market correction. Why Nelson sees discounted valuations, dry powder, and surging demand as the setup for the next successful vintage of climate funds. (37:40) Canada’s commercialization gap. Why Canadian corporates need to stop piloting and start buying if we want to build global-scale climate companies.Stay in the know on Canada’s clean economy. About Nelson: Before founding Climate Innovation Capital, Nelson led sustainability initiatives inside global giants like Nestlé and advised some of the world’s largest investors on ESG risks and opportunities. His book, The Gigacorn Hunter, lays out a practical playbook for climate investors navigating one of the most urgent - and profitable - frontiers of our time. Show Notes 📬 Sign up for our weekly briefing for the latest deals, real-world projects, and policy signals. More → ⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the full show notes & resources for this episode⁠ → Support the show with a review on Spotify and Apple! → Follow us on LinkedIn → Send feedback and episode ideas to ⁠⁠hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    44 min
See All (35)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Canada’s climate tech podcast. In each episode, we sit down with the founders, investors and change-makers building climate solutions in Canada. We’re on a mission to amplify the work of Canadian founders, explore the generational opportunity in building solutions, and inspire people to make the leap into climate tech. Get the latest Canadian climate tech news, funding announcements, job postings, events and more in our weekly newsletter at Climate Tech Canada.

Information

  • Creator
    Climate Tech Canada
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    35
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Climate Tech Canada
  • Show Website
    The Climate Cycle

You Might Also Like