Martin Baker | Top 40 Under 40 2026

Photo by Jared Sych. Location: Mount Royal University.

Age: 37

Occupation: Board chair, Local Investing YYC; VP of project origination and head of value chain interventions, Anew Climate

For Martin Baker, investing in Calgary’s future requires a two-pronged approach — backing local entrepreneurs and ensuring the Earth is healthy enough to support the progress.

At Anew Climate, Baker has supported 10 forest-conservation projects totalling more than 10,000 hectares and projected to reduce more than five million tonnes of CO2 emissions in the next decade. He also led an initiative in northern Alberta that protected 100,000 hectares of Métis-owned forestland from future logging.

Baker’s work informs his role as chair of Local Investing YYC, a for-profit investment co-operative investing in Calgary-based businesses. The organization has raised $2.3 million for 13 local businesses that have social or environmental impact.

“Working in climate mitigation is important, especially in a province that is high in industrial emissions,” says Baker. “That work — here — is even more relevant.”