Taking carbon markets global

Hey there,

It's harvest season and Ottawa has a new crop it wants to export: carbon credits.

In this week’s issue, we look at Ottawa’s plan to let Canadian companies sell carbon credits to the world. It’s an early market, but could turn Canada’s clean power and geology into an export advantage.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

EnviCore teams up with materials giant CRH
Kathairos is Canada’s top growing company
And a preview of the climate tech events on our radar this fall

Canada opens the door to international carbon markets

Credit: Travis Kerkvliet

What happened: Canada wants to take its carbon removal and emissions reduction projects global. The federal government announced plans for a framework that would let Canadian companies sell credits internationally under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The details: Article 6 lets countries cooperate on their climate targets by trading credits called internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs).

Countries or companies can buy emissions reductions or removals from other countries and apply them to their own targets. The selling country subtracts them from its own tally to avoid double-counting.

The goal: steer investment to high-integrity reductions and removals, wherever they happen.

Why it matters: An ITMO framework would turn Canadian tonnes into exportable assets, open to a wider pool of international buyers.

Carbon Removal Canada counts 11 megatonnes of announced removal capacity waiting on construction. Selling to international buyers could help get those projects built, unlocking more than $8 billion in investment.

The context: The ITMO market is still thin. Only two country-to-country trades have been completed as of December 2025, and cumulative demand through 2030 sits at just 734 Mt.

While Article defines the framework, its up to each country to write its own rules. That means answering hard questions like which project types qualify and how ITMOs interact with domestic compliance markets.

Sellers also face a trade-off. Export too many cheap tonnes and you're left with only expensive options to meet your own target, so some countries limit ITMOs to options that are too costly to pursue at home.

Not so simple:

Ottawa is still exploring. Rules, timing and eligible credits are all undecided.
The quality bar is higher than in voluntary markets. Buyers will expect credits that are real, additional, verified and permanent.
Canada's UNDRIP commitments mean the framework will need to address Indigenous consent.

The bottom line: Opening Canadian carbon removal and emissions reductions to more international buyers could be a welcome boost to get projects off the ground - and help stitch together a cohesive carbon market across the country.

EnviCore (Calgary, AB) secured a strategic investment from the VC arm of global materials company CRH to support its first-of-a-kind, 200,000 t/y low-carbon cement plant.

Kathairos topped the Globe & Mail's Top Growing Companies list, hitting 16,379% revenue growth over three years. Kathairos prevents methane venting from oil and gas operations.

EverWind Fuels is exploring adding a data centre to its wind and green hydrogen platform in Nova Scotia.

PowerCo delayed its St. Thomas EV battery gigafactory by two years to accommodate next-gen battery technology. The plant will come online in 2029.

Ontario started a $26B refurb of its Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, taking four reactors offline to extend the plant's life by 38 years.

Novaport plans to build a port to support the offshore wind industry in Sydney, NS.

Hybrid Power Solutions secured a purchase order for 20 portable batteries to supply the US Air Force

Finnish Kempower installed EV charging at two major ports in Vancouver and signed a deal to deployed a chargers at ports across Canada.

Deep Sky was selected as part of Milkywire's latest portfolio of carbon removal credits for Salesforce, backing its project at Therford Mines in Quebec.

NEW ON THE CLIMATE CYCLE

Listening for Wildfires Before They Spark with CRWN.ai

Most utilities still catch failing lines the same way they did fifty years ago: a lineman driving the corridor once every one to eight years, looking for problems.

CRWN.ai helps utilities close this monitoring gap for critical infrastructure, preventing wildfires sparked by failing lines and optimizing maintenance.

We sat down with Brittany Courvoisier-Nicol and James Playford from CRWN.ai to talk about how they’re closing that gap, their experience building in defence tech, and how Indigenous knowledge can outperform Western data.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Budget preview: The Finance Committee released its recommendations for the 2026 budget, including support for the Clean ITCs through to 2040, support for battery vehicle supply chains, expanding tax eligibility for some technologies, and renewing the Clean Fuels Fund.

Will Carney take note? Who knows. But its a signal for which items have the House’s eye.

Better together: Maritime provinces are exploring a unified, regional power grid to boost reliability and fuel regional growth.

Fast-tracked reviews: The Carney government introduced a bill to overhaul environmental reviews and labour protections. The legislation aims to create certainty for investors around permitting and labour action.

A break at the pumps: The federal government extended its fuel tax break, while Alberta is cutting its provincial fuel tax starting in October, responding to high oil prices.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia is following other provinces by adding a new fee for EV drivers next month

Ontario goes drilling: Ontario is seeking expressions of interest in geologic carbon storage projects to assess market demand. The province passed its regulatory framework for carbon storage last year.

Charting a course for geothermal: The Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition kicked off consultations to develop a roadmap for geothermal development in Canada. The project will map out the pressing challenges and opportunities for the sector to compete internationally.

QUICK HITS