Alexandra Petre | Top 40 Under 40 2026

Photo by Jared Sych. Location: Mount Royal University.

Age: 36

Occupation: CEO, Deep Sky

Very few people on earth can claim to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they produce, but Alexandra Petre is one of them. In June 2026, her company Deep Sky became North America’s first to deliver verified carbon credits through direct air-capture technology.

Carbon credits are often bought by companies that have committed to offset their carbon emissions. Direct air capture removes excess carbon dioxide right out of the atmosphere. Deep Sky does this with large fans that force air through special tubes that absorb carbon dioxide, similar to an air filter. The captured gas is transformed into a liquid, trucked to a site north of Edmonton, and then injected into underground storage wells.

Deep Sky’s first facility, Deep Sky Alpha, was completed in Innisfail in the summer of 2025. The $50-million solar-powered facility situated on six acres of land is proof that the relatively new technology can be successfully implemented in Canada’s harsh climate.

Deep Sky Alpha will remove 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. Big businesses are already on board: Microsoft and Royal Bank of Canada were the project’s first major buyers of carbon credits. Deep Sky’s next site, in Manitoba, will remove up to 500,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas every year.

Originally from Romania, Petre worked in finance and consulted for the oil and gas industry in the United Kingdom for just over five years after completing a master’s at Oxford University in 2013. She credits her carbon management and energy industry experience for her success in getting direct air capture up and running in Canada.

“I think if you’re a complete outsider to the energy world, it’s potentially very difficult to understand how to approach some of the challenges around energy transition and climate change action,” Petre says.

It was the Rockies that drew Petre and her husband to Calgary in 2019. She believes Alberta and Canada are uniquely positioned at the forefront of the nascent carbon capture and storage industry.

“We have a lot of land available to deploy this technology, we have a very skilled workforce that has a lot of transferable skills from the energy industry, and most importantly, we have the geology to support the storage of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide safely and permanently.”