by Dan Roscoe, President of Renewall
From renewable electricity to innovations in ocean-based carbon removal, this province is producing some of the most promising climate solutions in the world. More importantly, it’s doing so in a way that’s grounded, resilient, and deeply connected to the people and places it serves.
Why here? Why now? The answer lies in our geography, our institutions, and our spirit. Nova Scotia isn’t waiting for the energy transition to arrive. We’re building it with urgency, clarity, and a sense of shared purpose.
For Nova Scotians, climate change isn’t an abstract challenge. It’s a lived experience.
We see it in rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion, in more frequent hurricanes, in shifts to fishing seasons and growing zones. Our proximity to the Atlantic makes us vulnerable — and that vulnerability has made us alert. It sharpens our focus and accelerates our response.
At the same time, we’re also blessed with something rare: a naturally strong and steady wind resource that provides the foundation for clean, scalable power generation. It’s not just our challenges that make us a testbed for innovation — it’s also our potential.
Necessity has always been a powerful driver of invention. In Nova Scotia, the need to act quickly and locally has created a climate innovation ecosystem shaped not by ideology or venture trends, but by the realities of a changing world.
Nova Scotia’s research ecosystem is disproportionately powerful for its size.
At its center is Dalhousie University, home to world-renowned clean tech and climate science programs. The work of Dr. Jeff Dahn and his team, in partnership with Tesla and Novonix, has advanced global understanding of lithium-ion battery performance and longevity. That research is already reshaping what’s possible in energy storage, electric vehicles, and renewables.
But Dalhousie is only part of the story.
From Cape Breton to the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia’s universities have forged a strong link between academic leadership and real-world application. Clean energy startups like Planetary and CarbonRun are translating groundbreaking research into new tools for carbon removal and ocean health. These are not theoretical exercises. They are working prototypes, field-tested in our own backyard.
This is what it looks like when a province turns knowledge into infrastructure.
In Nova Scotia, innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens through partnerships, trust, and place-based collaboration.
At Renewall, we’ve built our clean electricity model to serve the communities we live in. Whether that means offering retail choice to Nova Scotians who want 100% renewable energy, or working with institutions like Energize Bridgewater to decarbonize public infrastructure, the focus is always the same: clean power, generated and delivered locally.
Other climate leaders are following the same ethos. Planetary is working hand-in-hand with coastal municipalities to test ocean alkalinity enhancement. CarbonRun is developing its river-based carbon removal with an eye toward ecological compatibility and local stewardship.
These projects succeed not in spite of being community-driven, but because of it. In a world where many large-scale climate efforts fail on trust and transparency, Nova Scotia’s model is different: work with communities, not around them.
If there’s one defining trait that unites Nova Scotia’s climate innovators, it’s resilience.
This is a place that has rebuilt industries, reimagined livelihoods, and adapted to economic shocks again and again — from the collapse of the cod fishery to the decline of coal. Reinvention is part of the cultural muscle memory here. So is working with what we have, not waiting for perfect conditions.
The energy transition won’t be a straight line. It will require grit, creativity, and the ability to stay the course through complexity and change. These are things Nova Scotians understand intuitively. And they are precisely the qualities that climate leadership demands.
When people think about global climate leadership, they tend to picture large nations, powerful economies, or Silicon Valley moonshots. Nova Scotia offers a different model, one that proves leadership isn’t about size. It’s about focus. It’s about integrity. And it’s about being willing to act when others are still waiting.
From clean power to carbon removal to battery breakthroughs, Nova Scotia is turning frontline experience into global climate action. One community, one innovation, one breakthrough at a time.
The energy transition won’t be built in one place. But if you want to see where it’s starting to take shape — look here.
Dan Roscoe is the President of Renewall Energy, a renewable energy provider, and CEO of Roswall Development, a renewable energy developer, both based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His work is focused on building the infrastructure for a cleaner, smarter energy future across Canada and beyond.
