Canada is building the blueprint for a global carbon removal industry — and NorthX is helping lay the foundation.
Today, at Carbon Removal Day 2026 in Ottawa, the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition (ACR) officially launched as a new initiative of Carbon Removal Canada. ACR brings together the Government of Canada alongside corporate stakeholders with the goal to mobilize $100 million by 2030 for Canadian carbon dioxide removal projects across purchases, investments, and project finance.
NorthX Climate Tech is proud to be among the founding members.
Why this matters
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is no longer a question of “if” but “how fast.” The science is clear: alongside deep decarbonization, the world needs gigatonne-scale of CDR to meet Paris Agreement goals.
What’s missing is coordinated demand, a clear signal from buyers, investors, and governments that says: if you build it, we will buy it. This is where ACR comes in, bringing together public and private sector leaders to kick-start a functioning CDR market in Canada.
At the same time, a durable CDR market also requires a pipeline of high-quality Canadian projects, projects that are proven, tested, and ready for commercial partnerships. That supply only comes from early investment in companies building the solutions. And that’s what NorthX was created to do.
NorthX’s role in accelerating carbon removal
NorthX is one of Canada’s largest funders of early-stage climate hard tech, with a growing portfolio of CDR innovators working across direct air capture, enhanced mineralization, ocean-based removal, and more. Our approach is to invest at the moment when potential is immense but capital is scarce, bridging the gap from lab to deployment.
Our mandate is straightforward: reduce uncertainty, validate what works, and build the confidence buyers need to commit to long‑term offtake. That early‑stage certainty is the foundation on which demand‑side coalitions like the ACR can function.
The results are already taking shape. Several NorthX-backed companies have secured offtake agreements with global buyers, demonstrating that Canadian carbon removal innovation is moving from early-stage breakthroughs to real market demand. Companies including Arca, CarbonRun, CO280, Gaia Refinery, NULIFE, pHathom, and SkyRenu are now signing major commercial deals that validate both their technologies and the growing global market for durable carbon removal.
Among the highlights:
- Arca, one of NorthX’s earliest carbon removal investments and a leader in industrial mineralization, secured a milestone offtake agreement with Microsoft to deliver nearly 300,000 tonnes of durable carbon removal over the next 10 years.
- CO280, a carbon removal project developer, announced a historic agreement with Microsoft to capture and permanently store biogenic carbon emissions from a U.S. pulp and paper mill. Under the deal, Microsoft will purchase 3.685 million tonnes of carbon removal over 12 years—one of the largest engineered CDR purchases to date.
- NULIFE GreenTech secured a multi-year USD $44.2 million offtake agreement with Frontier, representing 122,000 tonnes of carbon removal.
NorthX continues to expand its support for this rapidly emerging sector. In October 2025, the organization announced $3.4 million in four new Canadian carbon removal investments, signaling a deepening commitment to accelerating carbon removal innovation in Canada.
To date, NorthX has invested $47.5 million across 79 projects, helping to create more than 800 good jobs while catalyzing over $610 million in follow-on investment—evidence that early-stage climate technology funding can translate into real economic and climate impact.
Beyond capital, NorthX plays a leadership role in shaping the ecosystem, from open funding calls to directed opportunities that target innovations from CDR, wildfire tech, energy storage solutions and more, to building the partnerships and market connections that help local innovators compete globally.
Looking ahead
Joining the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition is a natural extension of the work we were created to do. ACR gives Canada’s CDR sector something it urgently needs: a unified demand signal that de-risks innovation and accelerates commercialization.
“Canada has the science, talent, and natural advantages to lead in carbon removal. What’s required now is coordinated capital and clear market signals to move from breakthrough to deployment. As one of Canada’s largest early-stage funders of climate hard tech, NorthX backs Canadian builders and accelerates commercialization. We’re proud to join the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition to turn local strengths into global climate solutions — and innovation into industry.”
— Ka-Hay Law, Chief Investment Officer, NorthX Climate Tech
Canada has a generational opportunity to lead in carbon removal. Today’s launch of ACR sends a clear market signal: Canada is open for carbon removal business, and the capital to back it is here.
Learn more about the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition and read the full announcement here: www.advancecarbon.ca
