By Ethan Brooks Vfuture media digital technology reporter | covering consumer tech, AI hardware, CES trends & North American adoption curves—with a growing beat on cleantech as it crosses into mainstream Canadian energy and industrial plays
January 22, 2026 – Toronto
It’s -12°C outside my window in Toronto right now, the kind of cold that makes you grateful for anything that cuts energy waste or pulls carbon out of the air without adding more pain to the hydro bill. I’ve spent the last few years expanding my beat beyond gadgets into climate tech because, honestly, the line is blurring: AI is optimizing grids, batteries are getting second lives from EVs, and carbon removal isn’t just a promise anymore—it’s scaling in Canadian backyards and pulp mills.
In 2026, Canada’s cleantech scene feels like it’s hitting escape velocity. We’re not just talking pilots in labs; we’re seeing commercial deployments, big-ticket contracts with Microsoft and RBC, and repeated nods on global lists like the 2026 Global Cleantech 100 (where Canada placed nine companies for the second year running). Funding is still tough—2025 was a stress test—but the survivors are tougher, more pragmatic, and increasingly export-ready.
What strikes me, watching from Toronto while tracking deals across Calgary, Vancouver, and Halifax, is how Canadian these solutions feel: leveraging our cold climate for geothermal, our forests and mills for bioenergy and CDR, our mining legacy for critical minerals recycling. We’re not chasing moonshots as much as retrofitting reality—turning existing infrastructure into decarbonization engines. That pragmatism, plus supportive policies like SR&ED credits, provincial rebates, and federal net-zero pushes, is why Canada is quietly becoming a cleantech scaling hub.
Here’s my grounded take on the top Canadian climate tech startups to watch in 2026. These aren’t hype machines; they’re the ones closing deals, hitting milestones, and actually moving the needle on emissions.
The Standouts: Nine on the Global Cleantech 100 + Rising Names
The 2026 Global Cleantech 100 is a solid benchmark—independent, data-driven, and focused on commercial traction. Canada’s nine entries show depth across carbon removal, energy storage, critical minerals, geothermal, and industrial efficiency.
Cyclic Materials (Toronto, ON) This one keeps showing up on lists because it’s delivering. Cyclic recovers rare earth elements and critical minerals from end-of-life magnets in EVs, wind turbines, and electronics—urban mining that slashes emissions and water use compared to virgin extraction. They were the first Canadian on MIT Tech Review’s Climate Tech Companies to Watch in 2025, and in 2026 they’re scaling their commercial demo facility. With China dominating >95% of rare earth processing, Cyclic’s domestic supply chain play is huge for North American energy security. Investors (including BMW i Ventures) have poured in over US$80M; watch for production ramps this year.
Mangrove Lithium (Vancouver, BC) Battery-grade lithium refining with way lower carbon and cost. They’re building a plant in BC and claiming dramatic cuts in production footprint. In a world racing for EV batteries, Mangrove’s process could make Canadian lithium more competitive globally. Returnee on the Cleantech 100—traction is building.
Moment Energy (Coquitlam, BC) Repurposing retired EV batteries into grid-scale energy storage. Second-life batteries aren’t new, but Moment is executing at scale amid exploding demand for long-duration storage (hello, data centres and renewables intermittency). They returned to the Cleantech 100 after a hiatus and raised Series A in a brutal hardware funding climate—proof of resilience.
Planetary (Vancouver area) Direct air capture (DAC) with a twist: modular, low-energy systems targeting industrial sites. They inked a major carbon removal deal with Frontier (backed by big tech) and are scaling fast. New to the 2026 list, but already showing why CDR buyers are betting on Canadian tech.
CO280 Solutions (Vancouver, BC) Retrofitting pulp and paper mills for large-scale engineered CDR. They struck a 12-year carbon removal deal with Microsoft—real revenue, not just pilots. This is the kind of industrial integration Canada excels at: using existing forest industry assets for negative emissions.
Eavor Technologies (Calgary, AB) Closed-loop geothermal that drills deep, extracts heat without fracking or water issues. They’ve raised hundreds of millions (including big Canada Growth Fund commitments) and are pursuing projects in Europe, North America, and Japan. In 2026, expect new partnerships and cost reductions from tech improvements—geothermal could be a baseload game-changer for cold climates.
Carbon Upcycling Technologies (Calgary, AB) Turning CO₂ into building materials (concrete additives, etc.). Returned to the Cleantech 100 after strong funding rounds. Practical, industrial decarbonization with Canadian resource ties.
Pani Energy (Victoria, BC) AI-optimized water treatment for industrial processes—reducing energy and chemical use in desalination and wastewater. Returnee; efficiency tech that pays back fast in water-stressed or high-energy ops.
Augmenta (likely Toronto/Waterloo area) AI-driven building design for energy efficiency. New entrant; ties into the massive embodied carbon and operational savings potential in construction.
Other Rising Names to Track in 2026
Beyond the Global 100, these are getting serious buzz from lists like CleanEnergy.ca’s “10 Canadian Clean Energy Startups to Watch in 2026” and Foresight’s ecosystem signals.
CarbonRun (Dartmouth, NS) River-based enhanced weathering for CDR—spreading minerals in waterways to accelerate natural CO₂ absorption. Atlantic Canada’s Scaleup Venture of the Year; scaling fast with natural-system leverage.
Ayrton Energy (Calgary, AB) Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) for safe, existing-infrastructure hydrogen transport. Women-led, practical for hard-to-electrify sectors.
Skyrenu Technologies Direct CO₂ capture tech; featured alongside heavy-hitters for moving to implementation.
Kathairos Solutions Methane abatement for oil & gas—helium-based vent elimination. Alberta roots, big emissions impact.
DeepSky (Montreal, QC) DAC projects with contracts from Microsoft, RBC, Airbus; advancing storage regs in Quebec/Manitoba.
pH7 Technologies (Vancouver, BC) Critical minerals extraction; closed US$30M Series B in late 2025, revenue up 500%—poised for Japan/US expansions.
Why 2026 Feels Different for Canadian Cleantech
Funding was brutal in 2025, but the survivors have real revenue, contracts, and derisked tech. Government support (Strategic Innovation Fund, provincial programs) plus corporate offtake (tech giants buying CDR credits) is bridging the valley. Canada’s advantages—vast land, resources, cold for geothermal, forests for bio/ CDR—play perfectly into global needs.
Challenges remain: high CAD costs, regulatory hurdles for storage/transport, competition from US IRA subsidies. But pragmatism wins here—we adopt what works economically and environmentally.
From my desk watching snow pile up while tracking these deals, 2026 looks like Canada’s cleantech coming-out party: not flashy, but effective, exportable, and essential.
Which of these are you following—or investing in? Drop a comment. I’m always digging for the next grounded story.
We started VFuture Media because we wanted tech news written by people who actually follow this industry — not content farms chasing keywords. If that resonates, we’d love to have you as a regular reader. Pull up a chair.
Leave a Comment