Hey there,
In this week’s issue, we take a look at how Nouveau Monde Graphite is building North America's first integrated graphite supply chain - and why it matters for anyone trying to source battery materials outside of China.
Elsewhere in climate tech:
pH7 lands $44M to refine critical minerals with electricity
Alberta could be home to the world’s 3rd largest lithium reserves
Microsoft pauses CDR purchases
p.s. We hosted our first CTC roundtable last week - a deep dive conversation with founders, investors, energy operators, and policymakers working on clean compute. I’m looking forward to building this into a regular thing. If you’re working in this space and want to join, let me know!
NMG secures $410M to build North America's graphite supply chain
Source: NMG
What happened: Nouveau Monde Graphite secured $410 million for its Matawinie graphite mine, building North America's first fully integrated graphite operation - from ore to processed, battery-grade material.
The details: Canada Growth Fund led the investment alongside Investissement Québec and Italian energy company Eni. The deal builds on a US $335M debt package from EDC and Canada Infrastructure Bank. Public capital does the heavy-lifting to de-risk the project for private capital.
NMG has also secured offtake agreements with Panasonic, Traxys, and the Government of Canada, anchoring demand before the mine produces a tonne.
Why it matters: Graphite is a critical, but under-appreciated part of the clean energy value chain. It's the primary material in lithium-ion battery anodes and makes up ~50% of materials in a battery by weight.
But global supply is highly concentrated in China, which produced almost 70% of graphite and processes virtually 100% of battery anode materials. China has flexed its control of the critical mineral with stricter export controls, and domestic supply is increasingly a hard procurement requirement under US and Canadian industrial policy.
The deal also shows how Canadian battery materials players are approaching US market risk. There's no US OEM anchor (NMG ended a prior offtake deal with GM), the financing is anchored by Canadian and European capital, and offtakers extend beyond EVs into battery energy storage.
What’s next: The fresh capital puts NMG on track for a final investment decision and construction. The focus then shifts to executing a ramp-up with no North American precedent.
pH7 Technologies (Vancouver, BC) closed a $44 million Series B round for its critical mineral extraction platform, bringing on Asahi Kasei and the Circular Innovation Fund.
I spoke with pH7 founder Mohammad Doostmohammadi just after the first close of their Series B to unpack how they’re using electricity instead of chemicals to refine and process critical minerals.
Rock Tech Lithium (Toronto, ON) secured $200 million from BMI Group to advance its lithium conversion facility in Ontario.
Fondaction Asset Management launched a €300 million natural capital fund with Triodos to convert farmland and forests to regenerative practices.
Microsoft goes dark: Microsoft is telling partners that it’s pausing CDR purchases according to Heatmap. The software giant has bought 45 million tons - about 80% of all carbon removal purchases. (fwiw Microsoft denied it’s indefinitely pausing its purchases)
Why it matters: Without its largest buyer, the CDR market is a lot smaller. Microsoft was also a trust signal - other buyers could lean on their due diligence to make their own purchases. But the market is far from dead - buyers other than Microsoft bought 3.2M tonnes last year.
Lithium potential: Alberta may have the 3rd largest reserves of lithium in the world, with 82.5M tonnes of lithium carbonate. It’s a significant resource in world where demand for lithium continues to rise - particularly for sources outside of China.
Sustainable finance: Canada appointed members of its Taxonomy and Transition Planning Council to develop a national sustainable finance taxonomy by end of 2026.
Hydrogen contraction: NL’s hydrogen sector is down to two active projects - North Atlantic’s 324 MW wind-to-hydrogen project and EVREC’s 2.6 GW hydrogen / ammonia plant. The rest were shelved by Crown land fees and market conditions.
Solar incentives: Hydro-Québec is offering up to $1000 per kW of installed residential and commercial rooftop solar to accelerate adoption and cut payback times in half.
Nova Scotia’s new energy: NS passed new legislation establishing royalty frameworks for offshore wind projects and introduced new frameworks for geothermal energy, natural hydrogen, and carbon storage, filling large legislative gaps.
QUICK HITS
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This startup wants to turn fusion directly into electricity
Liberals adopt policy declaring energy efficiency a “nation-building” project
Could nuclear power plants heat our homes?
Another battery recycler goes under
Jet fuel supplies could run out at Europe’s airports within weeks
🚀 NRC e-Auto Challenge: Hosted by NRC, this program provides funding to stimulate innovation in the EV supply chain.
🗓 PNW Climate Week - Vancouver Info-Session: PNW Climate Week is coming to Vancouver. April 22nd.
🗓 Climate Global 2026: Hosted around Web Summit, this event brings together decision-makers facilitating market entry, cross-border partnerships, and international investment in climate tech. May 12th, Vancouver.
💻 Diagram is hiring a Co-Founder & CEO, New Venture: Battery-as-a-Service for Commercial Businesses
💻 Growcer is hiring a Research and Development Director
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