In late 2021, Tim Thomson brought his newborn home from the hospital to find the power cut to his Colorado house in the dead of winter. Winds were increasing and a nearby wildfire was spreading quickly.
Thomson, his wife, and his parents had to pack up the kids, some clothes, and the family dogs, and spend their infant's first few days of life away from their home.
"For me, wildfires are something deeply personal," he said.
Thomson is the Chief Financial Officer at Charm Industrial, a startup with roots in San Francisco, Calif., and operations across the U.S., that's working on bringing its wildfire mitigation technology to Canada.
Their technology takes forest debris and turns it into a carbon-rich bio-oil that can be pumped underground so that the carbon stays locked away.
Across Canada and the U.S., too much forest biomass — branches, leaves, and downed trees — can act as dangerous fuel for wildfires.
More than 14.6 million hectares of forest area burned in Canada in 2023, according to Natural Resources Canada. Roughly 230,000 individuals were evacuated.
The frequency and intensity of wildfires is growing in Canada and the U.S. (and across the globe), according to data published
in the Nature and Ecology journal. There’s a clear need for innovative technologies and strategies that will reduce the risk to nearby communities, Thomson said.
The conventional way a government or municipality would manage the forest biomass is to clear it, sort it into piles, and then burn the piles, because it's too costly to transport the biomass to another location for processing.
But this method releases smoke into the air. Smoke contains carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter that can significantly reduce air quality.
Charm's team of engineers and scientists figured there had to be a better method for dealing with forest biomass (and in turn reducing wildfire risk) that didn't pump more CO2 back into the atmosphere and make air quality worse.
"It's a critical industry that needs to be built," Thomson said. "There's a unique opportunity here to lessen wildfire risk, while building up climate resilience and rural economies."
How does Charm's technology work?
Charm manufactures and operates pyrolyzers — small machines that can be easily moved into remote, wooded areas.
Operators feed forest biomass into the pyrolyzer, which heats it to a high temperature with very little oxygen.
Charm’s machines mostly produce a thick liquid blend of organics called bio-oil, a barbecue sauce-type substance that can be pumped underground and stored there for thousands of years.
The process also produces a substance called biochar, which can be applied to farm fields to improve soil health and water retention.
"We'll be partnering with forestry groups who've bid on a project with a province that wants to reduce the wildfire fuel around communities but doesn’t have a nearby market for the wood," Thomson said.
"That's Charm's opportunity to take the forest debris that would have been burned and instead process it through the pyrolyzer.”
Purchasing carbon removal credits from Charm
In early 2026, TD announced it is purchasing more than 44,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits from Charm over a 10-year period, which will begin in 2029.
A portion of those credits will be sourced from Charm's future Canadian operations, supporting new partnerships with Canadian farmers and communities prioritizing wildfire fuel reduction.
Carbon credits generally represent one metric tonne of CO2 that has been removed from the atmosphere by an eligible project following a prescribed methodology or protocol.
Companies purchase carbon credits to offset their own emissions or to demonstrate their commitment to companies finding innovative ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
TD has purchased the credits to voluntarily compensate for their own Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG operational emissions. TD does not use carbon credits to achieve its interim Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction target. (Read more about the Bank's emissions reduction target in the TD Sustainability Report).
"TD has been incredible in helping us to anchor our future operations in Canada," Thomson said.
What an agreement with Charm means for the Bank
Tim Balombin, a Managing Director on the Global Energy Team at TD Securities, led the effort to purchase the credits from Charm.
The benefit of Charm's approach is twofold, he said. By removing the forest debris and feeding it into a pyrolyzer, Charm is reducing forest fire risk.
And by taking the bio-oil and storing it underground permanently, governments, companies, and municipalities who use the technology can help prevent the release of more CO2 into the atmosphere.
"Wildfires are a big problem, and it's growing bigger by the year," Balombin said. "TD has long focused on the environment, and we take that commitment seriously. By working with Charm, we're bringing people and technology together to drive better outcomes for our customers and for the environment."
Oil wells and job transitions: the role Charm could play beyond wildfire mitigation
The ripple effects of Charm's technology could go beyond lessening wildfire risk.
The bio-oil produced in the pyrolyzers will be injected into some orphaned or inactive oil and gas wells in provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, Thomson said.
Wells that aren't properly closed or cleaned up by the companies that operate them can release contaminants into the air and pose other risks in the community. Injecting bio-oil produced in the pyrolyzer reuses existing infrastructure, and Charm permanently plugs the wells after filling them, Thomson said.
"We can help stabilize them and prevent them from leaking methane into these communities," he said.
Charm's pyrolyzers also have a role to play on Canadian farms, Thomson said. Materials that would otherwise be left to rot — like wheat straw and corn stover — can be processed onsite similarly to forestry residues.
"We're creating biochar that can effectively improve soil," he said. "Canadian farmers are navigating super tight margins and rising input costs, so providing value from materials that would otherwise go to waste is a huge opportunity."
Thomson said Charm is working on expanding its operations into Canada soon. The company is already operating its technology across the U.S.
In the long-term, Thomson hopes that Charm's operations will create jobs in remote and rural communities, especially for skilled tradespeople who might be transitioning from other industries like oil and gas.
“Being able to step back and look at all the positive benefits that can come from this process ... is incredibly rewarding,” he said.
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