Twelve Canadian companies have earned places on the 14th annual Global Cleantech 100 list, showcasing a significant Canadian contribution to the world's cleantech industry. 

The list is curated by the Cleantech Group, a market research company founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. It recognizes private companies expected to make significant cleantech market impact over the next five to 10 years.

The Canadian companies are Svante, Pani, GHGSat, Carbon Upcycling Technologies, Ionomr Innovations Inc., GaN Systems Inc., Moment Energy, Hydrostor Inc., e-Zinc, Ekona Power Inc. and Eavor Technologies Inc.

"This Global Cleantech 100 edition is remarkable for the number of businesses in it who represent solutions for some of the hardest of decarbonization challenges and those who are working on some of the critical materials issues coming our way, real soon,” said Richard Youngman, Cleantech Group's CEO in a statement.

“We salute not only these 100 companies but all the thousands beyond, who are fighting the good fight.”

Nominations are compiled from numerous sources:

• the panel of 81 investor and multi-national corporate representatives;
• Cleantech’s i3 platform tracking the investment and partnership history of thousands of companies;
• over 70 third-party awards;
• Cleantech’s sector analysts; and
• open calls for nominations.

Any private cleantech company can apply.

The list began with 15,753 nominations from 93 countries, which was whittled down to a 330-strong shortlist. The entries are unranked and divided by sub-sector. The U.S. is the only country with more entries.

SustainableBiz had previously reported on the 2022 edition, which featured seven returning Canadian companies and six new additions.

Canadian entries in energy and power

Eavor, based in Calgary, is so named thanks to its Eavor Loop, a reverse radiator that is dug into the ground to absorb geothermal heat and produce electricity.

Ekona Power in Burnaby, B.C. converts natural gas into hydrogen via pulse-combustion technology. It debuted on the list in 2021. The company states it eliminates 90 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by turning the carbon by-product into a solid form that can be stored and utilized for other purposes.

Toronto-based e-Zinc, which first appeared on the 2021 list, develops zinc reactor technology to facilitate large-scale electricity storage. Zinc metal storage is cheaper than battery technology and is also reusable, with a long lifespan.

Toronto’s Hydrostor has developed advanced compressed air energy storage to store renewable energy in underground caverns with zero emissions.

“Wind and solar are the cheapest forms of generating energy globally. Cheaper than coal, cheaper than gas (and) cheaper than nuclear. There’s no way of making energy cheaper than wind and solar,” Curtis VanWalleghem, Hydrostor’s co-founder and CEO, told SustainableBiz in an August interview.

“But if you want to rely on it, and not have your lights go out all the time, you need some way of firming that up and storing it. You need longer than an hour or two and so you do need this next generation of longer-duration storage that’s more flexible to locate than pumped hydro.”

Moment Energy, in Coquitlam, B.C. has developed an energy storage solution that reuses electric vehicle batteries. It has signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz for the German automaker to supply batteries for its 60 kilowatt-hour solution.

Canadian entries in materials and chemicals

GaN Systems in Ottawa develops gallium nitride semiconductors – said to be more efficient than typical silicon units, thus wasting less energy. GaN's semiconductors were chosen by Samsung to use in chargers for the Galaxy S22+ and S22 Ultra smartphones.

Ionomr Innovations, at the University of British Columbia, developed and manufactures ion exchange membrane and polymer solutions that make electrolysis more cost-effective and friendlier to the environment. It is Ionomr's second appearance on Cleantech’s list.

Mangrove Lithium’s main technology converts lithium chloride and lithium sulfate from a wide variety of feedstocks directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, which can be used in electric vehicle batteries.

“For (lithium producers) to have a refinery, it’s a huge capital cost,” Francisco Velasco Davis, Mangrove’s commercial vice-president, explained to SustainableBiz in May. “In our case, we can start with a very small module, and we can grow with them and have all the battery supply chain happening in the same country so they don’t have to ship the raw material to China and then ship it back.”

Canadian entries in resources and environment

Carbon Upcycling Technologies of Calgary has developed a catalytic reactor technology that can sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) gas from industrial sources into a solid form within concretes, plastics and coatings.

Montreal-based GHGSat operates the world’s only high-resolution satellites aimed at monitoring GHG emissions at a facility level. This is the company's second appearance on the list.

Pani, operating out of Victoria, B.C., placed on the list for the second straight year. The company has created a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that provides digital operational twin technology to the water processing sector. Its stated goal is to decarbonize the water supply by 510 megatons per year by 2032.

Founded in 2007 in Vancouver, Svante develops filters it states can capture 95 per cent of the total CO2 emitted from industrial sources. Svante has been named to the list each year since 2019.

“We need to collectively do everything in our power to reach net-zero, which includes all the tools in the decarbonization toolbox such as mass scale-up of vehicle electrification, renewables, hydrogen, reforestation, and carbon capture, utilization and storage,” said Svante CEO Claude Letourneau in a statement.

All companies on the list will be recognized at the Cleantech Forum North America Jan. 23-25 in Palm Springs, Calif.