GBI buys Canadian rights to Green Globes from JLL

GBI buys Canadian rights to Green Globes from JLL

U.S.-based Green Building Initiative (GBI) has purchased the global rights to the Green Globes sustainable property ratings system from commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). GBI’s acquisition from JLL allows it to support existing Green Globes users in Canada and to expand the reach of the rating system globally, said Vicki Worden, president and CEO of the non-profit GBI.

Sustainable Biz Canada

The electrifying path to decarbonization: A three-part series

The Pembina Institute has published a three-part series that examines the role of electricity in reducing carbon emmissions.  Part 1: Electric heat pumps key to low-carbon buildings, Part 2: The benefits of electrification for utilities and customers and Part 3: Electrification of buildings a cornerstone of low carbon economy written by Dylan Heerema is an analyst at the Pembina Institute’s Vancouver office.

Pembina Institute

Canadian cleantech startups get ready for a breakout year

Canada’s global reputation for cleantech innovation is on the rise. A 2017 study from one of the sector’s premier research organizations, Cleantech Group, ranked us fourth in the world as a clean-technology innovator – and tops among Group of Twenty countries – up from seventh place in 2014. It means we’ve become much better at developing and commercializing technologies that help reduce our environmental footprint.

Globe and Mail

Let’s discuss the Energy Star Multifamily High-Rise Program

In a construction market that has been slowly recovering since the end of The Great Recession, multifamily housing has been the brightest star. The demand for rental housing has been on a steady climb since 2004. But the demand for rental housing is growing while the income level of renters is falling. Renters need to save money on their housing costs, and the cost of utility bills is increasingly important to renters who can’t afford high utilities.

BDC Network

SITES and LEED: Pilot projects that fostered resilience

To complement LEED and ensure that the sustainability movement addresses all areas of the built environment, GBCI expanded with other credentialing programs, including SITES. With several rating systems to choose from, how does one know which is the right fit? This article is the first part of a series explaining the relationship between the two rating systems and how projects can drive incredible results by using SITES and LEED together.

U.S. Green Building Council

Washington achieves top sustainability certification for cities

On a work day, the US capital does not appear much more “sustainable” than any other major city. Its streets are packed with cars, lights flicker in offices long after the occupants have gone home, and stark economic divides persist between neighborhoods. But beneath the surface, something is working in Washington, D.C., experts say.

CS Monitor – Eco-business

EU considering rewarding consumers for choosing greener buildings

Efforts to cut emissions from Europe’s building stock received a major boost as the European Commission said it was considering lowering capital requirements for banks in order to help reward consumers investing in energy efficient buildings. Speaking at the One Planet summit in Paris last month, Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commission’s financial services chief, said the use of private capital was essential to help the EU reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2030.

World GBC

	Roadmap to retrofits in Canada
	Roadmap to Retrofits in Canada advances recommendations made in CaGBC’s 2016 Buildings Solutions for Climate Change report by analyzing how the type, size, age, energy source and regional electrical grid of large buildings in Canada can affect efficiency performance and carbon emissions.
	Canada Green Building Council, January 2018

 

Part 2: Sustainability leaders look ahead to 2018

As 2017 ends and 2018 begins, we asked members of the GreenBiz Executive Network, our member-based, peer-to-peer learning forum for sustainability professionals, to tell us what will change in terms of their organization’s efforts. 

Green Biz – Part 1: Sustainability leaders assess 2017: Part 1

Why voluntary climate risk disclosure is going mainstream

What will it take for major corporations to take climate risks seriously, making sustainability reporting a routine part of financial filings? The G20’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a global push by investors and companies to include information about these exposures in mainstream reports to regulators, is helping companies make that transition on a five-year implementation timeline.

Green Biz

Quebec pension fund announces climate change strategy

Quebec lawyers versed in green technology and a low-carbon economy are heralding the new climate-smart investment strategy announced by the massive Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec pension fund.

“I think it’s a very big deal,” says Doug Clarke, a commercial lawyer and clean technology financing expert with Therrien Couture LLP, a law firm with offices in and around Montreal.

Canadian Lawyer

Canada submits 3rd biennial report to United Nations on Climate Change

On December 29th, Canada submitted its 7th National Communication and 3rd Biennial Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The government noted that Canada is making strong progress toward meeting its 2030 climate target, according to the year-end report submitted to the United Nations.

Water Canada

	Carbon pollution pricing around the World
	A map created by the Institute for Climate Economics shows jurisdictions around the World with carbon pricing in 2017 and the type of legislation that has been enacted.
	Pembina Institute, January 9, 2018

 

Canadian garbage piles up as China raises recycling standards

China’s decision to impose tough new purity standards on the recycled materials it takes in from around the world has Canadian municipalities facing pileups of garbage, hefty extra costs and the risk of losing millions in revenue. As of Jan. 1, 2018, China, which buys approximately two-thirds of North America’s recyclables, requires that contamination levels can’t exceed 0.5 per cent.

Globe and Mail

Startup trying to cut food waste gets financing from Wal-Mart’s Walton family

Members of the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fortune, are backing a startup that thinks it can turn a profit by reducing food waste. The business, called FoodMaven, has completed a US$8.6 million Series A fundraising round that includes financing from the billionaire Walton clan.

Financial Post

Sustainable building materials market $175-billion in 2016 and growing

The global construction sustainable materials market, by volume, was 7,543.1 Kilotons in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.0% between 2017 and 2026. By value, the global construction sustainable materials market was valued at $175.00 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% between 2017 and 2026.

GlobeNewswire

US breaks record for disaster cost: $306 billion

With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion. The US had 16disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That ties 2011 for the number of billion-dollar disasters, but the total cost blew past the previous record of $215 billion in 2005.

Christian Science Monitor

Products, Technology and Design

Canada introduces new asbestos rules

Canada is moving ahead with its promised asbestos ban by proposing the prohibition of the use, sale, import and export of asbestos and products containing the hazardous material. The federal health and environment departments are both sponsoring the proposed changes aimed at eliminating the market for asbestos products in this country. The government now acknowledges that all forms of asbestos fibres, if inhaled, can cause cancer and other diseases.

CBC

Market trends and research

Rocky Mountain Institute: Top 10 Clean Energy Developments of 2017

Sure 2017 had its mishaps (and we’re not just talking about the La La Land/Moonlight fiasco). But it also had some great moments. From the “We Are Still In” movement to record-low solar prices, 2017 was a great year for clean energy. Here we highlight our top ten clean energy developments of the year, in no particular order.

Microgrid Knowledge – Microgrid Knowledge

Five green building trends for 2018

I asked eight of my favorite green building experts one question: “What notable trends do you see emerging in commercial green building in 2018?” I sifted, stirred and then blended in a few findings of my own. Finally, I baked their insights and my followup research into five green building trends for 2018. Here they are:

Kendeda Fund

Why I’m negative on ‘net positive’

The phrase “net positive” makes me cringe. At a human rights conference last year, one audience member opined that businesses should not be allowed a voice at the table because it’s only a force for evil. I looked at his branded clothing, industrial backpack, cell phone and laptop and wondered what world he lived in.

Green Biz

Commercial real estate

Participants in the Better Buildings Challenge share progress

Hundreds of organizations have engaged in energy saving efforts that have resulted in a combined 240 trillion Btus and an estimated $1.9 billion in cumulative energy and cost savings. That’s according to the Better Buildings Progress Report, which tracks accomplishments across the broader Better Buildings Initiative. More than 345 private and public sector organizations have committed to improving their energy efficiency across their entire building portfolio by at least 20 percent within a decade.

Energy Manager Today

Residential Real Estate

Albertans benefitted from energy programs in 2017: Report

Monica Curtis, CEO, Energy Efficiency Alberta, reported how Albertans have benefitted from a suite of new energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in 2017. Albertans are saving an impressive $300 million in energy costs, have received $45 million in instant savings and rebates to purchase over nine million energy-efficient products, and are avoiding almost three million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions as part of energy efficiency programs in 2017.

Globe Newswire

3 ways U.S. real estate developers can stay ahead of climate change

The value of global real estate is enormous, topping $217 trillion, of which 75 percent is residential homes and property. Given this scale, it is hard to overstate the importance of real estate to people’s personal fortunes. For many, it is their largest single investment. Residential real estate markets are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. People are beginning to recognize this new reality.

GreenBiz

Government Programs and Incentives

Germany dumps 2020 climate target

Germany has decided to discard its 2020 climate target, a plan that aimed to lower carbon dioxide emissions by 40 per cent from 1990 levels. The decision comes on the heels of “exploratory talks” between Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc and the Social Democrats, during which both sides agreed that Germany’s 2020 climate target could not be achieved, Reuters reports.

ipolitics – Reuters

Corporate Sustainability

How WRI is working to tip the balance in favour of the planet

Terry Slavin talks to World Resources Institute president Andrew Steer about what it will take to scale up action on climate and the SDGs How do you help bring about a tipping point on huge issues like climate change, rampant deforestation, or the scandal of one-third of food produced globally being wasted when 800 million people go hungry?

Ethical Corporation

Transit, bikes and transportation

It’s time to take down our urban expressways

Every year, when I do the Ride for the Heart on Toronto’s expressways, I marvel at all the new condos that have been built, and am shocked at how close they are to the highways. I wonder what the air quality must be like in there, or on all those balconies with a view of the cars and trucks idling in the never-ending rush hour.

TreeHugger

Electric car charging stations that fuel up on sunshine

Brightfield’s Solar Driven charging stations generate clean electricity, feed the grid, and charge electric vehicles.Electric vehicles have the potential to greatly reduce both local air pollution, given that they have zero tailpipe emissions, and lower regional and global greenhouse gas emissions, due their non-reliance on burning fossil fuels.

TreeHugger

Water Management

‘Too many unknowns’ prompt call to switch sewage-sludge plans

Victoria’s mayor is calling for a last-minute change in plans for handling the Capital Region’s sewage sludge. Mayor Lisa Helps said she initially supported a proposal to generate electricity and revenue by gasifying the processed sludge along with kitchen scraps and other trash at the Hartland landfill in Saanich. But a planning workshop last month revealed “too many unknowns”.

CBC

Waste Management

Plastic bag bans are actually terrible for the environment and make us sicker

Montreal celebrated the start of 2018 by banning single-use plastic bags, with grocers and retailers facing thousands of dollars in fines if they refuse to comply after an initial grace period. A plastic bag ban, enthusiastically endorsed by federal environment minister Catherine McKenna, is also scheduled to take effect in Victoria later this year, and politicians in other cities and even in Manitoba’s Conservative government are now considering bag bans as well.

Financial Post

Other

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