Clean50 2025 Clean Tech Nominee Features – Part 1/5: Circular Economy and Transportation Solutions
Every fall, our Clean50 Awards recognize only a few of the many extraordinary nominees that we consider – and in particular, the list of cleantech and R&D nominees far exceeds the number of awards we can deliver in those categories.
This year’s list will be unveiled on October 10th and include maybe 6-10 of the leading players in the R&D, cleantech and Tech-Telecom categories – but right now we’re considering over 40 standout nominees for those awards who we think you should know about – especially if you need clean solutions to your sustainability problems!
And good news! It’s clear that cleantech innovation is vibrant and thriving in Canada.
However, innovation alone isn’t enough. Canadians must actively support domestic innovations by choosing to buy Canadian products. The hefty investments and tax incentives provided to U.S. cleantech companies mean they are well-funded and able to acquire Canadian rivals, resulting in the loss of intellectual property, jobs, and revenue to the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. China and many European countries similarly have recognized cleantech as a global mega-trend, and are investing in their country’s home-grown talent accordingly. We need to do the same.
The world has recognized that to achieve net zero emissions on a global scale by 2050, rapid deployment of existing technologies paired with the scaling of promising technologies not yet on market are essential in the next decade. Cleantech companies are recognized as a strategic industry and high growth sector for Canada’s economy – and many say cleantech companies are a beacon of hope in the global strategy for mitigating climate change – but they are also essential to our ongoing prosperity – as fossil-fuel sector jobs diminish.
But we need more than hope in our path to net zero – we need continued strategic investment in Canada’s cleantech sector to position Canada as a global leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Today, and over the next four weeks, we’re thrilled to present ~40 remarkable companies and their technologies or solutions, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting their solutions and by spreading the word: Canadian cleantech can become the anchor industry that replaces resource extraction – without the pollution!
Our exploration into cleantech has uncovered some surprising sources of innovation you might not think of right away. This week, we’re highlighting companies with innovative and sustainable circular economy and transportation solutions – including 4 companies who convert organic waste into something far more useful – and 4 companies with solutions connected to transportation. Discover these – and stay tuned over the next four weeks as we delve into other exciting advancements. Congratulations to all our nominees!
This Week’s Featured Companies – Part 1 of 5
Profiles 1-4: Circular Economy Cleantech Solutions
Revolutionizing Energy: Transforming Wood Waste into Biocarbon and Renewable Natural Gas
CHAR Technologies, Andrew White (CEO) (www.chartechnologies.com/)
Company and Product Snapshot
CHAR Technologies provides a solution that converts wood, agricultural, organic residual and wastes into renewable energy and biocarbon. Called High-Temperature Pyrolysis, or HTP for short, CHAR’s offerings include a comprehensive suite of biocarbon products, available under their CleanFyre and SulfaCHAR brands, as well as hydrogen-rich syngas that can be applied for renewable energy applications including Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and green hydrogen. HTP is an autothermal process that subjects organic materials such as wood waste to temperatures exceeding 800°C in an oxygen free environment. Through this process, organic materials are transformed into renewable energy, ready for conversion into renewable gases like Green Hydrogen or Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). Additionally, this approach also yields valuable biocarbon, which can be used as a drop-in replacement for replacing fossil fuel coal in heavy industrial applications.
Who should buy it: steel, metal smelting, and cement manufacturers
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Designed to Deliver: Lucent Bio’s Climate-Smart Crop Nutrition Innovations
Lucent BioSciences, Michael Riedijk, President & CEO (www.lucentbio.com)
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Company and Product Snapshot
Lucent BioSciences, headquartered in Vancouver with operations in Saskatchewan, provides sustainable circular economy solutions that support agriculture. The company’s flagship products, Soileos and Nutreos, are designed to enhance crop nutrition and soil health while significantly reducing environmental impact. Targeted towards North American farmers, these products have demonstrated substantial climate benefits. Third-party analyses, including “cradle-to-gate” Life Cycle Assessment by Viresco, show that Soileos’ manufacturing process emits about 4 tonnes fewer greenhouse gasses per tonne compared to conventional fertilizers like EDTA. Additionally, the manufacturing of Soileos uses 1.5 times less water and 4 times less energy, and produces 5 times fewer air pollutants than conventional fertilizers, highlighting its potential to support sustainable farming practices and significantly reduce agricultural GHG emissions across the industry.
Who should buy it: This product is the ideal solution for any grower looking to increase yields with a sustainable option that seamlessly fits into traditional fertility plans and methods without the traditional environmental footprint.
From Sludge to Savings: NULIFE GreenTech Revolutionizes Waste Disposal
NULIFE GreenTech, Jerry Kristian, Co-founder (www.nulifegreentech.com)
Company and Product Snapshot
NULIFE GreenTech addresses a significant industrial waste disposal challenge by converting food and agricultural processing wastes, as well as sewage sludge, into carbon-negative bio-oil through their patented hydrothermal liquefaction technology. NULIFE reduces disposal costs for its current customers without requiring any capital expenditure from them thanks to its ‘build, own, operate’ model. The company’s commercial module can process 32,000 tons of waste annually, reducing emissions by 14,000 tCO2e. Applied to the sewage sludge market in Canada, this technology has the potential to eliminate 1.8 MtCO2e annually.
Who should buy it: Customers include industrial food processors who desire a lower cost and more sustainable solution for their waste disposal as well as buyers of NULIFE’s carbon negative bio-oil, such as refineries and heating oil distributors and carbon dioxide removal industries.
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Soil Supercharger: How Nurture Growth Bio is Redefining Organic Fertilizer
Nurture Growth Biofertilizer Inc., Le Luong, CEO & Co-founder (www.nurturegrowthbio.com)
Company and Product Snapshot
Nurture Growth Biofertilizer Inc. is an organic biofertilizer and circular economy company. Their flagship product, Nurture Growth, is made from upcycled food waste and enriched with beneficial microorganisms. Utilizing the Science of Biomimicry, this biofertilizer naturally produces nutrients from the atmosphere and soil, making them bioavailable to plants. Farmers and growers using it increase yields, improve soil health, and reduce dependency on chemical fertilizers, thus lowering greenhouse gas emissions. By upcycling food waste, it also diverts methane from landfills. If widely adopted, this biofertilizer could eliminate up to 1 million tonnes of GHG emissions annually, contributing to a healthier environment and sustainable farming practices.
Who should buy it: Farmers, home gardeners, and plant parents
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Profiles 5-8: Transportation Cleantech Solutions
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A New EV Brain: Boost EV Performance and Cut Emissions with Exro’s Coil Driver™
Exro Technologies, Sue Ozdemir, CEO (www.exro.com)
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Company and Product Snapshot
Exro Technologies is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and has over 150 employees across several global locations. Its Coil Driver™ is a new brain for electric vehicles, enhancing electric motors’ performance by putting the right amount of power to the wheels that need it when they need it, optimizing power and system efficiency. The technology can be used in EVs across cities, on highways, and even in rugged terrains. Coil Driver™ increases system efficiency by 5-15% in passenger vehicles, allowing for a corresponding reduction in battery pack size. This decreases the environmental footprint associated with battery production and disposal, as well as charging. In commercial vehicles, the elimination of inefficient mechanical components reduces vehicle weight and enhances operational efficiency, leading to lower energy consumption and maintenance costs. This optimization results in a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Who should buy it: Automotive manufacturers and fleet operators should buy the Coil Driver™. This includes manufacturers of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and electric buses looking to enhance vehicle efficiency and performance while reducing environmental impact.
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Enhancing vessel performance with sustainable graphene-based marine coatings
GIT Coatings, Mo AlGermozi, CEO & Co-founder (www.gitcoatings.com)
Company and Product Overview
Nova Scotia based GIT Coatings (Graphite Innovation & Technologies Inc.) has developed sustainable graphene-based, copper-free ship hull and propeller coatings which are so hard and smooth, barnacles and marine growth are unable to attach to the hulls, and massive ships thus need 7-10% less energy to propel – and stop leaching copper into fragile oceans. With a commitment to delivering environmentally friendly, efficient, and economically viable solutions, the company is helping ship owners world-wide achieve sustainability goals by enhancing vessel performance while reducing emissions to air and water. GIT’s products, XGIT-FUEL and XGIT-PROP, solve age-old industry problems and add value to vessel owners with a solution that is biocide free, non-leaching, low friction, highly durable, and self-cleaning. GIT is looking to reduce CO2 by 5 million tons by 2027 and reduce Copper by 1,100,000kg.
Who should buy it: Large commercial seagoing vessels, ship owners and operators, dockyards, cruise ships, and charter boats.
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Hybrid Power + Vertical Flight: Horizon’s Groundbreaking Cavorite X7
Horizon Aircraft, Brandon Robinson, CEO & Co-founder (www.horizonaircraft.com)
Company and Product Snapshot
Ontario based Horizon Aircraft is devoted to making regional aircraft more sustainable. They are developing a unique hybrid electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Cavorite X7. The machine will have the ability to perform much like a helicopter but fly twice as fast, and with a much greater range. With the promise of efficient, sustainable and rapid transit, eVTOL technology will make a massive impact on many industries, and this disruptive clean tech also has the potential to completely reshape how we move people and cargo at the regional level. Early use mission profiles will include medevac, northern community / remote resupply, and vital organ transport. The company already has a 50%-scale prototype that has successfully demonstrated hover flight and is on track to complete a successful transition flight soon, and the US government has funded further R&D.
Who should buy it: governments and commercial operators, as initial mission sets would include medevac, cargo resupply, vital organ transport and natural disaster response. Estimated market availability: Q4 2026/Q1 2027
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Whale Done! Scaling Marine Mammal Monitoring with AI
Whale Seeker, Emily Charry Tissier, CEO & Co-founder (www.whaleseeker.com)
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Company and Product Snapshot
Whale Seeker’s “Möbius” tool uses AI to deliver fast, high quality, marine mammal detection from images for all ocean stakeholders. Whale Seeker is an early adopter of the “human-in-the-loop” machine learning process, where human expertise is used to calibrate the AI model to new datasets and make judgements on difficult cases. These are novel but proven approaches for wildlife detection and provide built-in mechanisms to adapt this solution to different geographies, species, and data types (e.g., infrared images). Möbius sets an early, high technical and ethical standard for automated wildlife monitoring from imagery.
Who should buy it: environmental consultants, policymakers, conservationists, and anyone who requires rapid marine mammal location data for dynamic decisions on the ocean, such as for fisheries and shipping lanes management.
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Be sure to come back next week to learn about 8 more Canadian clean tech solutions vying for 2025 Clean50 Awards!!
