Written by Chantelle Carden, Carbon Management Lead at CICE
Since 2021, the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) has raised more than $105 million in non-dilutive funding for high-impact decarbonization solutions that leverage British Columbia’s unique mix of natural, industrial, academic, technical and entrepreneurial advantages. In launching our Carbon Dioxide Removal call, we’re now working to harness the uniquely diverse advantages of every province and territory. The goals: To accelerate the commercial development and scaling of made-in-Canada carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions by funding and de-risking early-stage innovation.
Surviving and thriving through CDR leadership
Discussions around CDR tend to focus on climate targets, and for good reason: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has unequivocally stated that there is no viable pathway to net-zero without large-scale CDR.
Its economic impact is similarly compelling. Valued at $3.4 billion in 2024, the global CDR market is becoming a major economic engine. According to Carbon Removal Canada (CRC), CDR has the potential to create over 300,000 jobs in this country by 2050, ranging from engineers and scientists to tradespeople and operations managers, and could contribute $143 billion to Canada’s GDP through investments in infrastructure, tech development, and global export opportunities. McKinsey Insights, meanwhile, reports that a global CDR industry capable of delivering gigaton-scale removals at net-zero levels “could be worth up to $1.2 trillion by 2050.” We’re already seeing investors move into the space, with leading venture capital firms, energy companies, and financial institutions backing B.C.-based CDR startups.
A wealth of natural and human resources
Of the CDR solutions being explored today, many have the potential to remove gigatons of CO₂ — and the diversity of Canada’s natural and human resources supports their development and deployment.
From coast to coast, we have abundant forests, farmland, oceans, and other resources for carbon sequestration. Some of the world’s most extensive forested areas cover most of Ontario, Quebec, and B.C., while Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba account for nearly 85 percent of the country’s farmland, which is among the most extensive on Earth. The Maritime provinces, together with Nunavut, easily dominate when it comes to length of coastline per square kilometre — and that’s saying something given that Canada has the world’s longest coastline.
Canadian advancements in CDR
Likewise, every province and territory brings its own industrial, academic, technical and entrepreneurial assets to the CDR table.
Research centres like the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) at the University of Victoria, are advancing critical research on oceans processes, biology, and function as CDR media.
Private and public companies are working to establish direct air capture (DAC) projects across the country. Montreal-based Deep Sky leverages Quebec’s abundant, affordable, and carbon-neutral hydroelectric power for its DAC initiatives. Carbon Engineering, which pioneered the tech behind the world’s largest DAC facility in Texas, launched its first test plant in Squamish in 2015 and now exports its made-in-B.C. solutions globally. Vancouver-based Svante was recently named one of Cleantech Group’s Global Cleantech 100 for its nanoengineered filters and modular rotating contactor machines that capture and remove CO₂ from industrial emissions. And the list goes on.
At the same time, every province has a history of partnering with First Nations on forest-based CDR. Indigenous peoples’ traditional ecological knowledge, including cultural burning and prescribed fire, has proven a valuable resource to improve the effectiveness of forest preservation. Indigenous rights holders also have the opportunity to lead beyond forest-based CDR, and in the early development of CDR in all its forms.
Embracing the CDR challenge
By acting boldly, Canada can attract global CDR investment, lead in innovation, create thousands of well-paying jobs, export world-class CDR tech, and secure a leadership position in the global race to net zero. To succeed, we must leverage ALL of Canada’s world-leading natural and human resources.
We invite all CDR trailblazers across Canada to embrace a key opportunity to scale and commercialize their solutions by applying for CICE’s Call for CDR Innovation. CICE invests in decarbonization solutions that drive economic growth, create jobs, and position Canada as a world leader. Using our unique data-based innovation framework — one that will be on full display at Web Summit Vancouver — we’re not just addressing today’s challenges, but laying the foundation for a resilient and prosperous future.