Our recent survey of 13 carbon removal companies found that most employees are men. While this aligns with what is currently the norm in the energy sector, with a recent publication from the government of Canada stating that women hold 24 per cent of the jobs in the energy sector, we wanted to make a point of celebrating women making waves in the carbon removal sphere.
Based on their achievements through 2024 and plans for 2025, we identified six women pushing carbon removal to the forefront, driving research and innovation, and giving necessary policy input. In the spirit of Carbon Removal Canada, each person featured is Canadian or based in Canada. Here’s to what they do next!
AJ Bird – Bird & McCrimmon
AJ is an entrepreneur who advises Indigenous-led work in the carbon and biodiversity sectors. She is a vocal advocate for Indigenous Nations and regularly speaks out on how companies do or do not incorporate Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Prior to COP29, she contributed recommendations to an Indigenous-led position statement on the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, which calls for the direct involvement of Indigenous nations in carbon trading rather than relegating them to beneficiary positions. She also launched the AJ Bird Show in 2024, recording episodes on Indigenous sovereignty in the energy transition. She is currently in the planning stages of an Indigenous-led carbon removal project.
Isabelle Callaghan – Deep Sky
Isabelle is the project manager at Deep Sky, leading the development of the company’s pilot facility, Deep Sky Alpha, in Innisfail, Alberta. Before starting construction, she vetted 50 potential sites, conducting assessments and negotiations to determine the best location for the project. Since the project’s inception in late 2023, she has overseen every aspect of its development, from engineering to permitting. Once all the units at Alpha are ready for deployment and fully operational, it will remove 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. In 2024, for her work at Deep Sky, Isabelle was recognized as one of Corporate Knights’ 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders in Canada. She’s come a long way since she attended her first climate rally at 10 years old – we have no doubt 10-year-old Isabelle would be proud of who she is today.
Stephanie Rose Cortinovis – University of Waterloo
Stephanie is an upcoming scholar in the carbon removal field — she is working on a PhD at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo and is also a research associate with the Cascade Institute. Her master’s research on policy options and pathways for scaling direct air carbon capture and storage was published in a paper last year in the Frontiers in Climate’s special issue on carbon removal. During her PhD, she started focusing on marine carbon removal and was already selected to participate in a series of National Science Foundation workshops on climate interventions, presented at the Earth Systems Governance Forum. She was recently accepted as a discussion leader and participant in the Gordon Research Conference on CCUS, where she plans to present on direct air capture (DAC) and marine carbon removal.
Vida Gabriel – Terrafixing
Vida is the founder and COO of TerraFixing, an Ottawa-based DAC company. Their technology famously works well in sub-zero temperatures and is more cost-effective. Vida’s work landed her on the 2023 Forbes Local 30 under 30 in Toronto list and, more recently, on MarS Discovery District’s 11 Canadian Tech Entrepreneurs To Watch in 2025 list. With good reason – TerraFixing landed a $1.6 million seed round in 2024, and this year, they have plans to launch a pilot project with Tugliq Énergie in northern Quebec.
Navjot Sandhu – Carbon Engineering
Navjot is a Carbon Removal Product Development Lead at Carbon Engineering. Throughout her time at the company, she has worked in cross-functional roles that bridge technical innovation and business development. This year, she looks forward to STRATOS, the first commercial DAC plant to use Carbon Engineering’s technology, coming online and delivering carbon removal credits from the project. She is also a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Methodological Expert Panel for the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism. Navjot brings her experience in durable carbon removals to support the development of methodological standards and guidelines required for operationalization of the mechanism.
Shannon Sterling – CarbonRun
Shannon is the founder of CarbonRun and an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University. Having grown up amidst the old-growth forests and rivers of British Columbia and witnessing the impacts of forest clearcutting, her work is inspired by a lingering childhood question: How could we allow such harm to our rivers and forests? In 2024, CarbonRun opened the world’s first river alkalinity enhancement project and was featured on the front page of the New York Times for securing the first river liming carbon removal offtake from Frontier Climate. This year, the team plans to advance new projects in North America and continue working on international projects in the Nordics.
