The Canadian Government’ Climate Action and Awareness Fund Invests $58mn into 24 Clean Tech Projects

In pursuit of its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the Canadian Government will invest $58 million into 24 clean tech projects. The project leaders and recipients of the funding are 12 Canadian universities and one non-governmental organization.

The University of Waterloo received the largest portion of this funding – $15.8 million that will fund 6 projects led by the university. One of these clean tech projects, Solutionscapes, aims to design climate and water-smart agricultural systems. Another project, led by a professor of chemical engineering, seeks to assist in the development and ultimate deployment of “direct air capture” – technology that directly captures carbon from the atmosphere.

Among the other recipients of the funding were the University of Toronto ($8,970,000), the University of Calgary ($6,096,504), the University of British Columbia ($5,286,160), and the Canada Green Building Council ($1,712,158). Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, made the announcement of the funding and its allocation and noted that such funding will be a key step in advancing science and technology to fight climate change: “Scientific research underpins everything we do to fight climate change. This funding provides critical support, allowing government and academia to work together in exploring practical and achievable climate change solutions. By leveraging our unique expertise, we can foster collaboration across disciplines, sectors, communities, and research bodies.”