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Big steps for Allied Properties REIT on the ESG front

3 years ago

Allied Properties REIT has taken significant steps recently in the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) sphere. It created a senior management position for sustainability, got its Green Financing Framework into place, and has been scored on its first GRESB report.

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Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP-UN-T) has signed deals totalling US$4.1 billion to sell Enwave, its North American district energy business. The company says Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Australian firm IFM Investors have agreed to buy Enwave’s Canadian business.

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Last week, Moose Jaw city council approved $54,186 to pay for an economic assessment of expanding its existing geothermal district heating system and to determine if the area’s underground hot water supply can support production at its Agri-Food Industrial Park.

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A large floating platform with six underwater turbines was launched Monday near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, marking Sustainable Marine Energy Canada’s  bigger, second-generation platform and the latest high-tech bid to generate electricity by harnessing the bay’s tides.

Energy Profiles

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OPINION: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is facing some pushback to the goal for its massive investment portfolio to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. A group of beneficiaries has joined a campaign for a greener, faster plan.

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Nothing signals the critical mass of climate action in the corporate world more than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s dramatic reversal in announcing this month that it is open to a carbon tax, renewing the focus on climate change by investors.

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Germany beat its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent last year compared to 1990 levels. The country’s emissions of planet-heating gases were 42 per cent lower in 2020 than three decades ago, confounding warnings the country couldn’t meet its goal.

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Companies accused of making “seemingly dubious claims” on the environment will be approached by national authorities after a greenwashing study by the EU. The European Commission assessed 344 claims and concluded nearly half of them (42%) seemed to be false or deceptive.

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The residential skyscraper at Manhattan’s 432 Park Ave. has been the poster child for what is wrong with architecture, real estate development, and wretched excess. It is really expensive to build something so tall and skinny with an aspect ratio of 15:1.

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The Building Electrification Technology Roadmap (BETR) is a first-of-its-kind study focused on accelerating the adoption of highly efficient electric technologies that displace fossil fuel technologies in California. The study looks at electrification technology options for residential and commercial building types.

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The federal government has announced an allocation of $349,000 to the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation in Ontario towards the installation of a 214-kilowatt solar photovoltaic net-metering project at the community bingo hall.

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Calgary-based Canadian Power Holdings Inc. has acquired Okanagan Wind, which operates two wind farms in southern B.C., for more than $100 million. Okanagan Wind’s facilities have a combined generating capacity of 30 megawatts under contract to the B.C. hydro for 37 years.

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Biodiversity is of increasing focus in 2021 as the world recognizes that without significant steps towards change, it is losing animal and plant species at an alarming rate. How can investors support nature and wildlife?

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In September, Oceana Canada released a damning report showing Canadians use up to nine times more disposed plastics than India and double that of the Scandinavian countries. Water Canada interviewed Kim Elmslie, campaign director at Oceana Canada about its recommendations.

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Customers at The Tare Shop in Halifax are creative with their containers: Some use classic jars, others reuse yogurt containers, pots and pans or even glass liquor bottles. The Tare Shop is part of a new wave of package-free stores.

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Tens of thousands of large dams across the globe are reaching the end of their expected lifespans, leading to a dramatic rise in failures and collapses. These deteriorating structures pose a serious threat to hundreds of millions of people living downstream.

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Suncor has restarted construction of two carbon-emission reducing projects paused last March as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted — a $1.4-billion project to install two co-generation units at its Oil Sands Base Plant and a $300-million wind power plant in southern Alberta.

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Siksika First Nation is launching a legal challenge against the province’s decision to rescind its coal policy, effectively allowing open-pit coal mining in the Rockies. Launched in 1976, the policy restricted open-pit mining in designated areas from Jasper to Waterton National Parks.

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Imperial Oil Ltd., one of Canada’s largest crude producers and refiners, saw fuel demand drop due to the pandemic posting a quarterly loss of $1.15 billion hit and also incurred a $1.17-billion impairment charge on some abandoned unconventional assets in Alberta.

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Australia will establish a hydrogen technology cluster in every state and territory as the country moves toward unlocking its potential and creating a globally competitive hydrogen industry with a network of 13 regional clusters, according to the National Energy Resources Australia.

Industry Events