Carbon Removal Canada (CRC): Grantee Spotlight (Q3 2026)

The Giving Green Fund is awarding a restricted grant to Carbon Removal Canada for its program to build compliance-driven demand for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in Canada. Carbon Removal Canada is the only independent policy organization in the country dedicated to carbon removal.

Carbon Removal Canada's work falls within our philanthropic strategy of scaling novel carbon dioxide removal and, more specifically, our sub-strategy of creating demand for CDR through compliance mechanisms and/or alternative demand mechanisms. Please see Giving Green's strategy report for more information, including potential risks and co-benefits, recommended sub-strategies, theory of change, funding need, and key uncertainties.

Last updated: September 2026

What Is Carbon Removal Canada?

Founded in 2023, Carbon Removal Canada works to make Canada a place where carbon removal gets built at scale. Its case is that the country has unusually good physical conditions for CDR: geological storage, clean power, forestry and agricultural biomass, mineral deposits suited to weathering and mineralization, and the world's longest coastline.

The organization works on both federal and provincial policy, publishing economic analysis, making formal submissions to regulators, and convening developers, buyers, and governments. It also runs the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition, whose members include the Government of Canada and major Canadian financial institutions.

What Are We Funding, and How Could It Help Address Climate Change?

We think climate philanthropy should help scale up carbon removal to mitigate hard-to-abate emissions and address legacy emissions. Permanent removal capacity today is a small fraction of what mid-century pathways require. Demand for removals is an important barrier to scaling up the CDR sector. Writing removal into environmental compliance regulations, where purchase is a legal obligation rather than a voluntary action, creates an opportunity to establish a long-term, reliable demand signal.

Our grant is restricted to the demand program, which pursues two openings:

• Federal compliance markets: advancing the case for permanent carbon removal to be recognized as a compliance pathway within federal regulations, through economic analysis, formal submissions, and engagement with regulators as those frameworks are reviewed and amended. 
• Provincial compliance markets: working with provincial governments, particularly Alberta, to build demand for permanent carbon removal within industrial carbon pricing systems.

Why Do We Think Carbon Removal Canada Will Use This Funding Well?

Carbon Removal Canada has already moved federal policy. Its advocacy helped secure Canada's commitment to procure carbon removal, among the first national programs of its kind, now running as a competitive process under the Greening Government Strategy. In 2026, it launched the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition, which has committed to mobilizing $100 million CAD (around $70 million USD) into Canadian projects by 2030. In Alberta, the province has adopted its recommended changes to project siting tools.

Our research recommends concentrating demand advocacy in jurisdictions whose policy environments can absorb it, including Canada. We think Carbon Removal Canada’s relationships with key stakeholders, its record of turning analysis into adopted policy, and the timing of key federal and provincial decision windows inside this grant period make it well-positioned to create demand for carbon removal in Canada.

We publish grant spotlights to offer transparency to Giving Green Fund donors and resources for those interested in the impact strategies each grant supports. Giving Green believes our Top Climate Nonprofits have the greatest impact potential for large, unrestricted gifts. For several reasons, we also disburse and recommend grants to other organizations surfaced through our research process for work that we believe is at least as impactful as grants to our top recommendations. 

This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.

Carbon Removal Canada is a registered nonprofit (charity) in Canada.