Enbridge invests $1 billion in Divert

Divert Inc., a leading impact technology company based in Concord, Massachusetts, recently announced a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge Inc., an energy company based in Alberta, Canada.  

In addition, Divert secured $80 million in growth equity from Enbridge and $20 million led by current investor Ara Partners.  

“Enbridge’s agreement with Divert represents a historic commitment from the company in advancing technologies and solutions that achieve a cleaner energy future,” says Caitlin Tessin, vice president of strategy and market Innovation for Enbridge. “Divert has emerged as a leader in creatively managing wasted food and our partnership aligns with Enbridge’s priorities in pioneering [renewable natural gas] as an effective solution to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

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Divert says the $1 billion infrastructure agreement will support the development of wasted food to renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities across North America. This will accelerate Divert’s expansion of anaerobic digestion facilities to sustainably convert wasted food into clean renewable energy, with the potential to offset up to nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.  

Divert says it plans to scale its facilities to every major geographic region in the U.S. to be within 100 miles of 80 percent of the U.S. population in the next eight years. New wasted food to renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities will also be considered for Canada.  

“The infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge marks a major turning point in the battle against the wasted food crisis,” says Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert. “For 16 years, Divert has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent wasted food nationwide and this new funding will serve as a catalyst to address this pervasive problem at scale. As one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure companies, Enbridge will play a critical role in the continued development of our transformative technologies and infrastructure.”  

The U.S. alone generates more than 100 million tons of wasted food annually, with more than 50 percent going to landfills or incinerators. Moreover, wasted food contributes up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2007, Divert has been leading the fight in taking on this crisis, delivering meaningful social and environmental impact for its stakeholders through its advanced technologies, logistics and sustainable infrastructure.  

The agreements come on the heels of significant growth and several major milestones for the company. Divert expanded its retail customer base by nearly 35 percent in 2022 to include about 5,400 retail stores, with more than 1,000 additional stores already contracted in 2023. The company also recently signed an offtake agreement with BP worth approximately $175 million, marking one of the largest known RNG offtake agreements for wasted food digestion in the U.S.