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OTTAWA — Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson announced millions of dollars for clean tech projects on Wednesday, ahead of the G7 ministerial meetings in Toronto starting Thursday.

Delivering the keynote address to the International Energy Agency Energy Innovation Forum, Hodgson pledged $11 million for carbon capture projects in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Later in the day, he announced a $5 million grant for a battery materials company to allow it to scale up production at its plants in Quebec and British Columbia.

“In Canada, we’ve made a deliberate choice not just to extract resources, but to move to build end-to-end value chains that can function as a solution to the problem we and many of our allies face — markets for important items held in a chokehold by nations who do not share our values,” Hodgson said.

Canada is hosting energy and environmental ministers from G7 countries this week in Toronto. In a series of other speeches Wednesday, Hodgson said the meetings are an opportunity to build stronger and more reliable supply chains for critical minerals with like-minded countries.

Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin told The Canadian Press earlier this week that her ambition for the meetings is to show Canada can help bring world leaders together to talk about environmental issues.

Also on Wednesday, Vancouver-based industrial mineralization company Arca announced it had signed an deal with Microsoft to remove 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 10 years.

Arca was one of the first investments made NorthX Climate Tech, a British Columbia organization that helps fund decarbonization companies. NorthX, which changed its name in May from the BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy, was founded in 2021, with backing of the B.C. and federal governments, and Shell Canada.

After calling Arca one of its success stories, NorthX announced Wednesday it was investing $3.4 million in four additional Canadian carbon removal ventures.

©2025 The Canadian Press