Foresight Canada has named the winners of its inaugural Canadian Cleantech Awards, recognizing companies, funders, adopters, and ecosystem leaders helping scale the technologies needed to build a more sustainable economy.
The awards were announced today at Web Summit Vancouver’s Climate Innovation Zone, placing the winners in front of global investors, industry leaders, and key decision-makers. Foresight said the ceremony was designed to amplify the impact of Canadian cleantech leaders and highlight the people and organizations strengthening the country’s competitiveness in a rapidly evolving global clean economy.
“Congratulations to all the winners and finalists of this year’s Canadian Cleantech Awards,” said David Sanguinetti, CEO of Foresight Canada. “Once again, I am truly amazed by the calibre of work happening across our entire ecosystem. From the visionary innovators to the dedicated adopters, funders, and supporters, these leaders are doing the heavy lifting to transform our economy for the better and ensure Canada remains a global frontrunner in rapidly evolving geopolitical and environmental climates.”
The Adopter of the Year award went to Lynch Bus Lines, a family-owned transportation company based in Burnaby. Operating a fleet of more than 100 vehicles, Lynch provides school busing, corporate shuttles, and custom charters across the Lower Mainland while integrating bio-diesel fuels, eco-friendly maintenance practices, and high-efficiency emission controls.
Foresight recently partnered with Lynch Bus Lines, BC Hydro, and Fuse Power Management on an 18-month vehicle-to-grid field demonstration project. The pilot tested BC Hydro’s bidirectional demand response capabilities by measuring real-world energy exports from EV fleets back to the grid.
The Ecosystem Supporter of the Year award was presented to Cheryl Trudell, Climate Manager at Imperial Oil. Based in Calgary, Trudell has more than 25 years of experience in engineering, research, and operations, and has played a leadership role in advancing climate strategy, decarbonization, and cleantech adoption across Canada’s energy sector.
Her work spans senior board and committee roles with organizations including COSIA, CRIN, PTAC, the Institute of Oil Sands Innovation, WPC Energy Canada, Alberta Innovates’ Bitumen Beyond Combustion program, and numerous advisory boards.
Toronto-based Stonebridge Financial was named Funder of the Year. The investment management firm specializes in ESG-oriented private credit and infrastructure financing, with more than $3.2 billion in assets under management and a track record of facilitating more than $8 billion for critical projects. Stonebridge has spent more than 25 years financing renewable energy, healthcare, and community infrastructure projects across Canada.
The Startup Venture of the Year award went to Aeon Blue, a Sydney, Nova Scotia-based company developing integrated hydrogen and carbon capture technology to produce sustainable eFuels from wind energy and seawater. Recognized as one of Foresight’s 50 most investable companies, Aeon Blue is developing a proprietary saltwater electrolyzer that simultaneously produces green hydrogen and captures carbon dioxide directly from the air.
The company says its process can create carbon-negative drop-in fuels, including replacements for gasoline, diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel, without requiring infrastructure modifications.
Burnaby’s Svante was named Scaleup Venture of the Year. The carbon capture and removal company has developed solid-sorbent filter and rotary contactor technology designed to capture carbon dioxide from industrial emissions sources, including cement, steel, and hydrogen facilities, as well as directly from the atmosphere.
Svante has raised more than $547 million from investors including Chevron and the Canada Growth Fund and recently launched what it describes as the world’s first commercial gigafactory for carbon capture filters.
With winners spanning transportation, carbon capture, hydrogen, renewable energy finance, and ecosystem leadership, the inaugural Canadian Cleantech Awards underscored the breadth of Canada’s cleantech sector—and the growing urgency to scale solutions from innovation to adoption.