News
Biochar Can Improve Soil Health While Capturing Carbon
Biochar is often overlooked as a means of sequestering carbon, but it is effective and inexpensive compared to many techno-fixes. Millions of tons of organic waste from agriculture and forestry operations are left to rot or get burned each year. Either...
What Cleantech Leaders Need to Know About Generating Carbon Offsets
Voluntary carbon markets are growing quickly. But before taking the leap, startups need to do their homework. The pressure is on for countries and corporations to slash greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Earlier this month, the World Meteorological...
How a New Mini-Wetland is Creating a Natural Filter for a P.E.I. Farm Field
Pilot project also aimed at reducing carbon and creating wildlife habitat. A watershed group in eastern P.E.I. is experimenting with a new mini-wetland that will filter pollutants, fertilizer and pesticides from water trickling out of the neighbouring...
Recent, Rapid Ocean Warming Ahead of El Niño Alarms Scientists
A recent, rapid heating of the world's oceans has alarmed scientists concerned that it will add to global warming. This month, the global sea surface hit a new record high temperature. It has never warmed this much, this quickly. Scientists don't fully...
This Eco-friendly Concrete Uses Biochar
The biochar was able to suck up to 23 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide from the air. Washington State University (WSU) researchers have engineered a carbon-negative, environmentally friendly concrete that is nearly as strong as regular concrete by...
10 Big Findings from the 2023 IPCC Report on Climate Change
March 20 marked the release of the final installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), an eight-year long undertaking from the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change. Drawing on...
6 Ways to Remove Carbon Pollution from the Atmosphere
Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have emitted more than 2,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (A gigaton is one billion metric tons.) This concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the air causes the climate change impacts...
Winnipeg’s Waste Stream is 44% Food
While grocery bills rise, food is still being wasted in Winnipeg — and a new report says nearly half of that greenhouse gas-producing waste is avoidable. Food waste from single-family households made up about 44 per cent of Winnipeg's waste stream,...
The Climate Economy Is About to Explode
A new report suggests that the Inflation Reduction Act could be even bigger than Congress thinks. Late last month, analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse published a research note about America’s new climate law that went nearly unnoticed. The...
Biochar in Concrete
Houses, roads, industrial parks – all are still traditionally built with concrete. Though, the steadily increasing demand is accompanied by an increasing scarcity of resources. At the same time the greenhouse gas emissions of the concrete industry...
Report on Landfill Methane Consultations Released
In early 2022 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) sought input on proposals for developing regulations on methane emissions from landfills. Comments received have been summarized in a “What We Heard” report, which can be accessed here:...
Removing Carbon With Biochar: How You Can Get Involved in a Cutting-Edge Removal Project
Reducing emissions as far as possible, transforming our systems in anticipation of a warming world, and compensating for the carbon footprint we can't avoid: these are our main tools in tackling the climate crisis. But if we're to mitigate the soaring...
Record Amount of Methane Added to Atmosphere Last Year
Much methane comes out of livestock and human-generated agriculture, as well as from landfills Global atmospheric levels of the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane increased by a record amount last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday, worrying scientists because of the large role methane has in climate change. The preliminary airborne […]
How are Countries Counting on Carbon Removal to Meet Climate Goals?
Over the last five years, more than 80 countries have committed to reaching “net-zero” emissions by mid-century. This means reducing emissions and, in some cases, scaling up carbon removal so the sum of emissions and removals equals zero. When setting...
How Investing in Cleantech Bolsters the Planet… and Portfolios
Climate-focused venture capital in Canada is no longer a rarity, with investors, corporations and governments now competing for startups’ attention. To make good on all those net-zero commitments made at last November’s United Nations summit in Glasgow,...
Study Shows Benefits of Biochar Application
“I saw biochar in action and it blew me away. When you see white beach sand that is now capable of producing food because it’s a functioning soil, it doesn’t take long to be convinced.” A study done by Saskatchewan Polytech on soil reclamation involving...
Carbon-Negative Biochar Augmented Concrete
“1 tonne biochar can trap 2.0-2.6 tonnes of CO2” It is well-established that the concrete industry and use of cement is one of the most emission-intensive industrial processes on Earth. Concrete is the most widely used human-made material on the planet...
The World is Aiming for Net-zero Emissions by 2050. Here’s What That Means
In theory, it's balancing emissions with removal of greenhouse gases — but the latter isn't easy Canada has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 to fight climate change. At the upcoming COP26 climate summit, hitting net zero globally by 2050...
It’s High Time We Tackle Methane Emissions from Waste
Governments and international organizations are sounding the alarm on methane emissions from organic waste in landfills. Fortunately, emissions from waste have been identified as having a significant mitigation potential.
The World’s Biggest Carbon-Removal Plant Will Take a Whole Year to Negate Just 3 Seconds’ Worth of Global Emissions.
Direct air capture technologies are showing that carbon dioxide can be drawn out of the atmosphere and sequestered deep underground. But the high cost of such technologies – as well as the practicality of deploying them at massive scale – raises important questions.
Ambitious Climate Goals Call For Rapid Adoption of Canadian Solutions
Canadian cleantech companies are increasingly looking south for opportunities as the Biden administration pushes for new climate-change policies and programs.
Soil, Carbon Sequestration and the Fight Against Climate Change
A University of Sydney professor is using “digital soil mapping” to help measure soil carbon content in the field and encourage farmers to adopt the government’s Carbon Farming Initiative.
Scarce Carbon Storage Threatens Net-Zero Push as Emissions Keep Rising
As more and more governments and companies commit to becoming “net-zero” the demand of carbon capture and storage technologies will increase rapidly. But will we have enough carbon sequestration solutions to meet this demand in time to avoid a major climate crisis?
Is Carbon the ‘Crop’ of the Future?
There is a growing interest in “carbon farming” among forward-looking agricultural producers in the United States. Ideas range from promoting on-farm practices such as conservation tilling and livestock rotation to establishing USDA-managed “carbon banks” to facilitate the buying and selling of agricultural carbon credits.
Effect of Biochar on Microbial Community Composition and Enzymatic Activity
Biochar offers several benefits as a soil amendment, including increased soil fertility, carbon sequestration, and water-holding capacity in nutrient-poor soils. In this study, soil samples with and without biochar additives were collected for two consecutive years from an experimental field plot to examine its effect on the microbial community structure and functions in sandy soils under peach-trees.
Saying “Yes” to Cleantech
In this article, Yung Wu, CEO of the MaRS Discovery District, argues that long-standing barriers to getting cleantech innovations developed, financed and adopted may be starting to come down — and will need to come down — due in part to the challenges of climate change and COVID-19, as well as the need to rebuild our economy.
New Report on Carbon Markets: What You Need to Know
The market for carbon offsets must be scaled up globally to make a sufficient dent in climate change, according to a new report that lays out a path toward a high-quality global carbon market. What does any of this mean? Let’s take you through it.