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BMO commits $50M to Breakthrough Energy Catalyst

2 years ago

BMO Financial Group has become the first Canadian company to join the Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, committing $50 million in investment capital.

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The activist investment firm, Sweden’s Cevian Capital has called on European public companies to start, or accelerate, the development of ESG targets for integration into compensation plans to be put to a shareholder vote at annual general meetings.

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Little of the snow at the Bejing Winter Olympics fell from the sky. It is made from water from reservoirs that supply about 400 snowmaking machines and will create approximately 2.5 million cubic metres of machine-made snow for ski and snowboarding venues.

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When the renovated home of the brand-new Seattle Kraken NHL team referred to as the Climate Pledge Arena opened in October, it did so as the first sports venue to earn “net-zero carbon” certification from the International Living Future Institute.

Sustainable Biz Canada

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Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) have announced that their primary priority is disposal of the “legacy” nuclear waste at the Chalk River facility. This waste includes contaminated soil and old buildings on the site.

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Strandberg Consulting’s report “Unlocking the Potential of Campus Infrastructure Projects to Build Social Infrastructure for Canadian Communities” is a call to action for infrastructure builders to fully mobilize institutional assets and resources to help communities course-correct for a flourishing future.

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The U.S. National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) has outlined a plan to improve technology, especially when it comes to recycling materials and to use all renewable energy in its operations as it aims to move toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

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As much as $100 billion of overseas capital will be spent in the London office market between now and the end of 2027, a new report predicted, with the number of sustainable buildings in the city a key draw for investors.

Decarbonizing Canada’s Large Buildings

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Google and Microsoft are among companies that see long-duration energy storage (LDES) as a crucial piece of reaching carbon-free operations and have joined Long Duration Energy Storage Council a CEO-led organization that was formed at last year’s COP26.

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Many companies are settling into the concept of hybrid offices and while totally closing offices could make a big difference in emissions, what is the impact of partial closure. The Carbon Counter at The Financial Times examines this issue.

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The second annual EcoVadis Network Impact Report shows an acceleration in “scaling up” business sustainability activities and accomplishments. In 2021 there was a 54 per cent increase in the use of recycling measures and a 30 per cent increase use of renewable energy.

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The private sector falls short in leveraging capital for the climate action we need today. Only one-fifth of the world’s 2,000 largest publicly traded companies have made net-zero commitments far below the pace of change demanded by the climate crisis.

Social Purpose Real Estate Financing

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Nova Scotia Power’s effort to thwart future small-scale solar installations sparked a quick retort from the provincial government which has introduced regulations to block a proposed access charge adding 8.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electricity being fed into the grid.

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Better Homes Kingston is a local improvement charge (LIC) financing program intended to encourage homeowners to undertake deep-energy retrofits. The program is expected to retrofit 25 to 50 per cent of Kingston’s pre-1991 single-family homes by 2040.

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A new study from Institute for Future-Fit Economies (ZOE) titled “Equitable 1.5 Degree Lifestyles: How Socially Fair Policies Can Support the Implementation of the European Green Deal” (PDF here) outlines a policy pathways that encourage low-carbon living and discourage the high-fliers.

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In 2020, Canadian agriculture and agri-food systems employed 2.1 million people, one in nine jobs. The sector generated about 7.4 per cent of GDP. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, crop and livestock farming was responsible for 10 per cent of Canada’s 2019 GHG emissions.

Yardi Pulse

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Located in Rockford, Illinois, a new facility will produce biomethane from biogas from a solid waste treatment plant owned Waste Connections Inc. It will have one of the largest per plant production capacities for Air Liquide at 380 GWh per year.

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Hydrogen burns when sparked, making it a promising fuel for power plants. While existing fuels like natural gas produce planet-warming carbon dioxide as a by-product, hydrogen fizzles into harmless steam.

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Policy supports that create a viable business case for green hydrogen are predicted to emerge in 2022. That’s according to research for Delta-EE which states that with over 6GW of announced hydrogen projects due to come onstream by the end of 2024.

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A newly formed alliance is looking to support the development of a hydrogen-powered railway sector across Spain by replacing fossil fuel trains with hydrogen alternatives, without any major modifications, to help drive competitiveness in the clean transportation market.

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