Nine Canadian companies made the 2025 Global Cleantech 100 list, the lowest number in years, as the report from San Francisco-based Cleantech Group notes the industry is entering “a more sober, skeptical environment.”

Eight of the nine Canadian entrants are repeats from the 2024 list: e-Zinc, Ionomr Innovations Inc., Mangrove Lithium, pH7 Technologies Inc., Summit Nanotech, Svante Inc., Cyclic Materials and Pani.

The newcomer is Toronto-based Enersion.

Co-founded by Hanif Montazeri, the company is the developer of a reversible heat pump powered by electricity. It provides heating and cooling to commercial and industrial buildings while replacing natural gas-powered heating or synthetic refrigerants with water.

The 2025 list compares to 13 Canadian companies last year, 12 in 2023 and 13 in 2022.

The cleantech sector is under more scrutiny, Richard Youngman, CEO of Cleantech Group, said in the report. An expert panel identified issues such as struggling to convert hype into commercialization, and industries like hydrogen and carbon capture especially failing to meet “unrealistic promises”.

“The bar has gone up for what kind of level of potential novelty, uniqueness and cost improvements might be attractive,” he said.

Energy and power

Enersion’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology is named Energy Cubed. Compared to traditional heat pumps, Energy Cubed does not use refrigerants that act as powerful greenhouse gases if they leak. Water serves as the refrigerant, with solar power warming up water stored in tanks.

Energy Cubed is being tested by U.S. energy company Con Edison at its Spring Valley, N.Y. offices.

e-Zinc, a Toronto-based company, is behind a zinc-air battery system that can store energy for 10 to 100 hours. It opened a pilot facility in Mississauga in 2024 and is preparing to commercialize, CEO James Larsen told Sustainable Biz Canada in a previous interview.

Materials and chemicals

Ionomr, based in Vancouver, is the maker of an ion-exchange material that can be used to produce hydrogen fuel or capture the carbon from synthetic fuel production.

"We are fast-tracking our progress as we continue to scale the development and manufacturing activities of our proven technology,” Bill Haberlin, CEO of Ionomr, said in an announcement about its Global Cleantech 100 listing.

Mangrove Lithium, a fellow Vancouver firm, produces battery-grade lithium from brine. In 2024, Annie Liu, a former Tesla and Ford executive, joined as the chief commercial and strategy officer. Also, it signed a memorandum of understanding with LevertonHELM to develop a lithium refinery in Europe.

pH7 Technologies, another Vancouver company, extracts critical minerals such as copper, tin and platinum from sources such as electronic waste. Last November it received $1.5 million in funding from PacifiCan to improve its facility. 

“This repeated recognition from Global Cleantech 100 reflects both our technological advancement and our growing impact in sustainable metals processing,” Mohammad Doostmohammadi, CEO of pH7 Technologies, said in a release.

Summit Nanotech, a Calgary-based company, developed a brine evaporation system for lithium. Its denaLi technology is designed to consume less water and cause less environmental damage than hard rock mining.

Carbon-capture sorbent manufacturer Svante is one of the biggest Canadian cleantech success stories. Based in Burnaby, B.C., it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, including $100 million from the Canada Growth Fund and $15 million from InBC Investment Corp. in 2024.

Cleantech Group put Svante on its Global Cleantech 100 Hall of Fame, which celebrates the businesses that have been named to the list seven times.

Waste and recycling

Rare earth metals recycler Cyclic Materials raised US$53-million in 2024 to expand its infrastructure into the U.S. and Europe. The company is based in Kingston, Ont.

Pani, a Victoria, B.C.-headquartered company, improves the performance of water treatment plants and reduces the greenhouse gas emissions from their operations. Cleantech Group named Pani as a standout, saying water innovation firms were a strong performer in the 2025 list.

What to expect from the cleantech industry in 2025

Uncertainty has been dominating the cleantech industry this decade, Anthony DeOrsey, a research manager at Cleantech Group, wrote in the report. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, no ally of decarbonization, will likely chill government support for cleantech. Green investments have also generally declined over the past 12 months, he added.

Companies that emphasize raw economics with minimal government aid will likely survive the forecast lean times, Cleantech Group suggests.

The organization predicts more exits from companies addressing the high power demand from data centres, electrified manufacturing and buildings, and electric vehicle charging. Another expectation is the emergence of startups working on climate adaptation, as global temperatures continue to rise largely unabated.