Canada's industrial carbon pricing system just went through its biggest redesign since it launched, trading ambition for stability. Depending on who you ask, the deal is either a major unlock - or a major step backwards.

We sat down with Etienne Rainville, VP for Central Canada at Clean Prosperity, a Canadian think tank that's been one of the most consistent voices for market-based climate policy. He's been making the case for carbon contracts for difference and was actively engaged as the Ottawa-Alberta negotiations unfolded.

We unpack what the certainty-price trade-off really means, how it impacts investment decisions - and where climate policy goes from here.

What we cover:

• Why the industrial carbon market was broken - and what the gap between the $95 headline price and $30 trading price actually means
• What changed: the new headline price schedule, the price floor, and how carbon contracts for difference work
• Why the floor alone isn't enough - and what CCfDs do that regulation can't
• What this means for founders and investors evaluating capital commitments
• Whether renegotiating the system undermines its long-term credibility
• How this deal impacts provinces beyond Alberta
• And where we go from here

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• Feedback or guest ideas: hello @ climatetechcanada.ca

Climate startups face a commercialization gap: They've proven the science, but are too risky for VCs - and too commercial for a government grant.

It's a gap that philanthropic capital is well-positioned to close.

Galith Levy is the CEO and co-founder of the Climate Solutions Prize, a dedicated philanthropic platform for climate innovation, deploying capital at the moment it matters most. Since 2020, they’ve deployed more than $12M in awards and unlocked over $120M in follow-on investment for winners.

What we cover:

• Why a prize vs grants, funds, or donor-advised vehicles
• The unique gap that philanthropic capital can address
• How CSP structures the prizes to unlock follow-on investment
• Why climate makes up just <2% of climate philanthropy - and how that can change
• Family offices and the next-generation of climate capital
• Communication impact returns - not just financial ones
• What blended finance actually looks like in practice
• Building the "Davos for climate"

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• Feedback or guest ideas: hello @ climatetechcanada.ca

We know heat pumps work - they’ve been around for decades - but actually getting them into homes is a challenge. The gap is structural: high upfront costs, a buying process stuck in the 90s, and a supply chain stacking layers of margin between the manufacturer and your home.

We talk with Stephen Lake, founder and CEO of Jetson, a home electrification company focused on making the transition to electric systems more affordable and sustainable. Jetson was started by the same team that built and sold North (formerly Thalmic Labs) to Google. They raised a $50M Series A earlier this year and are operating in Vancouver, Colorado and Massachusetts.

Jetson is giving heat pumps the DTC treatment and vertically integrating the entire experience - from hardware to install -building a system that functions more like mass production than a typical HVAC company.

What we cover:

• Why home heating is a bigger emissions lever than switching to an EV
• The structural barriers keeping heat pump adoption low - and Jetson’s thesis for closing the gap
• Jetson’s strategy for turning one-off installations into a repeatable process
• How Jetson thinks about entering new markets- The cold-climate and cost myths that are still slowing adoption
• What a fleet of connected homes means for the customer experience
• The grid integration play: demand response, time-of-use optimization, and what comes next

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• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Canadian climate tech funding, news, and trends.
• Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
• Feedback or guest ideas: hello @ climatetechcanada.ca