By Junaid Ahmed | January 15, 2025
It’s a record we don’t want to keep breaking: In 2024, global temperatures set a new high, beating out 2023 for the hottest 12 months since scientists first started tracking the planet’s temperature in 1850. It was also the first year that the global mean temperature hit 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which is uncomfortably close to the 2 degree Celsius threshold outlined in the Paris Agreement. With extreme weather events becoming all too frequent, the urgency to deploy climate tech solutions at scale cannot be overstated.
The Global Cleantech 100 — an annual list of the most promising climate tech ventures around the world put out by the San Francisco–based research firm Cleantech Group — offers a jolt of optimism. This year, nine Canadian startups working on novel approaches to energy storage, carbon capture and recycling made the cut. “Canada is becoming known for solving hard problems with hard tech, be it advanced membranes that improve the efficiency of hydrogen fuels to new cooling systems that combine nanotechnology with waste heat to achieve incredible emissions reductions,” says Tyler Hamilton, senior director of climate at MaRS.
In past years, Canada has typically had between 11 and 13 ventures on the list. Hamilton says this year’s slightly lower number isn’t a reflection on the quality of companies emerging from Canada’s cleantech ecosystem. “It’s more a sign that global competition is intensifying,” he says. “For Canada to remain at the front of the pack, we’ll need to double down on supporting our most promising players.”
Here’s a look at nine homegrown climate companies driving change.
MaRS venture
What it does: Rare earth elements (REEs) are tough to recycle. Neodymium, promethium and the 15 other REEs that are used in the magnets needed for batteries and high-tech devices often end up in landfills. Kingston-based Cyclic Materials has developed a proprietary method to extract these precious elements from spent products so that they can be made into new magnets. It’s the kind of tech that allows rare elements to be sourced locally, rather than overseas in expensive and climate-damaging mining operations.
What to look out for in 2025: After securing $71 million in funding from such backers as Microsoft and BMW, the company plans to make inroads into the U.S. and European markets. It will also be moving into Quebec to provide natural resources company Glencore with recycled copper, a common waste material in electric car motors.
MaRS venture
What it does: Enersion has developed an innovative heat pump technology. Its compressor-less heat pump uses nanoporous materials and low-grade waste heat to deliver both cooling and heating. The technology relies on water vapour as a refrigerant, avoiding harmful synthetic refrigerants that are 1,000 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This means that its systems offsets grid electricity, natural gas and synthetic refrigerants, making it both more cost-effective and sustainable.
Potential impact: The International Energy Agency estimates that electric fans and air conditioners account for 10 percent of all global electricity consumption. And as temperatures rise due to climate change, the need for more sustainable ways to stay cool will increase.
MaRS venture
What it does: This Toronto-based company is devoloping a zinc-based energy storage solution that lasts longer and is more sustainable than lithium-based batteries. e-Zinc’s devices store electricity in cells containing zinc dissolved in a liquid electrolyte. When solar and wind energy aren’t available (like on a windless night), electricity can be discharged out of these cells, providing people with the energy they need. “For applications that require long-duration storage, we are the low-cost technology,” says CEO James Larsen.
Potential impact: Lithium is the metal that first comes to mind when people talk about energy storage. But it is expensive to mine and process, and traditional extraction practices are incredibly damaging to the environment. Zinc, however, is easily recycled and is more affordable. For instance, e-Zinc estimates its batteries can be up to 80 percent less expensive than their lithium-ion counterparts.
MaRS venture
What it does: Ionomr is working to pave the way for hydrogen. The Vancouver-based venture produces a membrane that lowers both the economic and environmental cost of electrolysis: the process of separating oxygen from hydrogen in water molecules, a necessary step in the production of hydrogen fuel. Ionomr’s approach offers an alternative to perfluorinated sulfonic acid, which is typically used in the hydrogen industry, and is tough to dispose of. The company also creates solutions that help in fuel cells and a range of energy storage applications.
What to look out for in 2025: With the opening of its new development and manufacturing facility in Boston, Ionomr is working to scale up production.
What it does: This Vancouver-based startup is working to optimize lithium extraction by zeroing in on the extraction phase. Its electro-chemical process converts impure rock extracts into lithium hydroxide, the compound used in battery production, right at the mine site.
Potential impact: Getting lithium where it’s needed is a long and costly process. Mangrove’s on-site processing promises to simplify the lithium supply chain, which typically requires shipping the metal to different refining facilities around the globe — a huge carbon footprint.
MaRS venture
What it does: Waste water treatment plants are huge consumers of energy, accounting for close to 3 percent of global electrical demand. Victoria-based startup Pani is working to lower that figure. Its AI-powered platform monitors sensor data in water treatment and desalination plants and offers recommendations to operators to reduce costs, risks and emissions.
What to look out for in 2025: More than a quarter of the world’s population lacks access to clean water. Pani recently announced a partnership with Murugappa Water Technology & Solutions, which aims to help India reach its UN-mandated environmental, social and governance goals.
What it does: pH7 has developed a method for extracting platinum group metals, such as rhodium, iridium and palladium, from catalytic converters and solar panels. The Vancouver-based company has also developed an environmentally sustainable method for extracting copper from low-grade ores.
Potential impact: The demand for copper is expected to double by 2035 — it’s a critical metal in electric cars, as well as wind and solar energy systems. Platinum group metals are also vital for clean energies like hydrogen. pH7 is poised to alleviate demands in these cleantech industries.
MaRS venture
What it does: By using nanotechnology, this Calgary-based company is able to extract lithium much faster and more sustainably. Its process conserves freshwater resources, creates zero solid waste and requires 26 times less land.
What to look out for in 2025: Summit Nanotech is currently working in Chile with Llamara Group SpA, a group of local mining companies dedicated to using clean technology in lithium mining. The area they’re mining in, the Lhamara Basin, has one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. Putting a cleantech company to task here will make a big difference in reducing carbon footprints in the lithium industry.
What it does: Svante manufactures nanoengineered filters and modular machines that capture harmful carbon dioxide emissions at industrial sites. The carbon can then be stored deep underground or recycled into other products, like polymers or solvents.
What to look out for in 2025: Last August, the Burnaby-based company received $137 million from the Canada Growth Fund, which it intends to put toward development and construction of their projects in the U.S. and Canada. The company has also teamed up with Speed Skating Canada on a digital marketing campaign to shed light on the threat that winter sports face due to climate change — with hopes that the campaign will inspire Canadians to take action.
Learn how MaRS is accelerating solutions to make a meaningful difference in the climate change fight.
Photo source: iStock