The Climate Cycle

Climate Tech Canada
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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. The Economic Case for Carbon Removal with Na'im Merchant

    2D AGO

    The Economic Case for Carbon Removal with Na'im Merchant

    Canada's carbon removal sector punches well above its weight. We're home to leaders in direct air capture, mineral and ocean pathways and international companies are moving projects to Canada. The question is whether Canada will move ambitiously enough to capitalize before the window closes. Na'im Merchant is the Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, the country's leading CDR advocacy non-profit. In March 2026, his organization helped anchor the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition - a $100M commitment from the federal government, RBC, BMO, and Shopify to back Canadian projects by 2030. Carbon Removal Canada is the connective tissue the sector needed: a technology-agnostic, independent organization that coordinates policy, organizes the ecosystem, and builds the demand signals that help projects get financed. Their economic modelling shows CDR starts saving Canada money by 2035, cutting the marginal cost of reaching net zero by over 50% by 2050. What we cover: Why Na'im left global health for carbon removal What $100M actually unlocks - and why a government buyer mattersThe economic argument: how CDR saves Canada money on the path to net zeroIndustrial integration: mining, steel, and forestry as CDR opportunitiesTrough of disillusionment or normal maturation?The US pullback: genuine competitive opening for Canada, or missed opportunity?What policy and capital levers need to be pulled to realize this gigatonne-scale potentialLinks: → Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Canadian climate tech funding, news, and trends → Full show notes and resources → Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts → Feedback or guest ideas: hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    41 min
  2. Low-Carbon Fuels Without the Green Premium ft. Secant Fuel

    MAR 12

    Low-Carbon Fuels Without the Green Premium ft. Secant Fuel

    The green fuels transition has a cost problem. Mandates are arriving, corporate targets are being set, but sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel keep stalling on the same issue: price. Jochem Kamstra is the founder of Secant Fuel, a Canadian startup turning CO2 into syngas, the building block for low-carbon fuels like methanol and sustainable aviation fuel. Secant Fuel uses heat - not electricity - to create its fuels, allowing them to better compete with fossil fuels on price, and a distributed production model that integrates with industry. That's the threshold that has eluded this space for decades. Hit it, and the addressable market is measured in trillions. In this episode: Why Secant can hit fossil fuel price points when green hydrogen couldn'tThe surprising challenge of finding CO2 feedstocks, and it’s scarcer than you’d expectHow carbon utilization changes the project economics of carbon captureThe case for distributed, smaller-scale production and selling directWhy picking the right markets is key to success - and where Secant Fuel is finding tractionWhat Europe's SAF mandate and Canada's Clean Fuel Regulations mean for the marketWhy investors now demand cheaper-than-fossil, not just greener-than-fossilWhat the Hard Climate venture builder model gave Secant that a traditional incubator couldn'tLinks: → Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Canadian climate tech funding, news, and trends → Full show notes and resources → Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts → Feedback or guest ideas: hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    49 min
  3. Winning The Water Pollution Arms Race with Xatoms

    FEB 26

    Winning The Water Pollution Arms Race with Xatoms

    Since 2015, over 200 new contaminants have entered our water systems. Traditional purification technology wasn't built to keep up. Diana Virgovicova is the founder and CEO of Xatoms, a Canadian company using AI and quantum chemistry to custom-design water purification materials. Instead of running months of physical lab experiments, Xatoms models molecular behaviour computationally - predicting how atoms interact to design photocatalysts tailored to specific contaminants. The result is a growing library of materials that slot into existing water infrastructure without rebuilding it, with early traction in mining, agriculture, and textiles. Diana started this research at 14, won an award from the Swedish Royal Family at 17 for discovering her first material, and recently presented alongside Fortune 500 CEOs at Davos. What we cover: Why investors overlook water - and why that's starting to changeHow AI and quantum chemistry accelerate materials discoveryThe case for industrial water purification over non-profit and community modelsWhat Diana learned speaking to Fortune 500 CEOs at DavosHow Xatoms is commercializing across mining, agriculture, and textilesBuilding credibility as a first-time founder through media and social visibilityMore: → Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Canadian climate tech funding, news, and trends → Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts → Feedback or guest ideas: hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    37 min

  4. FEB 12

    What A New Auto Strategy Means for Canada's EV Supply Chain

    Canada's auto sector faces a choice: follow the US away from EVs, or bet on the technology the rest of the world is adopting. We look at Canada’s new auto strategy - dropping Chinese EV tariffs, restoring rebates, and introducing Canada's first independent emission standards - and what it means across manufacturing, minerals, and charging. Our guest is Denise Lee, a transportation policy advisor at Clean Energy Canada, a leading clean energy think tank. Prior to this role, she was a clean technology consultant in the U.K., helping governments and the private sector deploy low-carbon technologies such as electric vehicles, solar, and energy storage systems. She has also worked Tesla, SDTC, and as a researcher studying carbon capture economics. What we cover: Why Canada shifted from 100% tariffs to a quota system for Chinese EVsHow independent tailpipe standards position Canada as the US falls behindTrade diversification with Korea, China, and the EUSupply chain implications for critical minerals, EV parts, and charging infrastructureWhat exposure to leading manufacturers could teach Canadian automakers - and how it’s worked in the pastWhy provincial and municipal policy matters as much as federal actionLinks: → Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the latest Canadian climate tech funding, policy shifts, and market insights at climatetechcanada.ca → Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts → Feedback or guest ideas: hello@climatetechcanada.ca

    49 min

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 12/11/2025

    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

  8. 11/27/2025

    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
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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
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Climate Tech Canada
  • Show Website
    The Climate Cycle

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