Investor Confidence Project certifications coming to Canada

Investor Confidence Project certifications coming to Canada

Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) and the Advanced Energy Centre (AEC) at MaRS Discovery District are bringing the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) and its Investor Ready Energy Efficiency (IREE) certification to Canada. The Investor Confidence Project is a U.S.-based global underwriting standard for developing and measuring energy efficiency retrofits which is administered by GBCI.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Status quo for ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is still operating after U.S. legislators and President Donald Trump all approved a short-term spending measure on Monday to allow the federal government to reopen and be funded through Feb. 8. One way that a government shutdown has the potential to impact the real estate industry — in Canada as well as the U.S. — is via a shutdown of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

Sustainable Biz Canada – Canada Green Building Council

Canadian weather getting more extreme, insurers say

If it seems as if the weather’s getting weirder, you’re not wrong. An index of extreme weather in Canada compiled by the insurance industry backs that up. “Yes, we see definite trends that can’t be explained by normal variability,” said Caterina Lindman of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. The institute compiles what it calls the Actuaries Climate Index, a joint effort by insurance organizations across North America.

Globe and Mail

Catastrophic weather shakes up the reinsurance market

Recent major weather events in Australia, Mexico, the Caribbean and the United States, including three hurricanes that were Category 4 or greater, have resulted in catastrophe losses exceeding $100 billion for the third year on record. But the large insured loss has created a perfect opportunity for the reinsurance market to showcase its ability to adapt solutions to the unique risk profiles of individual clients.

GreenBiz

World’s oldest insurance market to stop investing in coal

Lloyd’s of London joins the ranks of big insurers who no longer see coal as a viable investment. Insurance companies have long worried that climate change-related weather events could put make their jobs much, much harder. And their success also relies on being good stewards of other people’s money.

TreeHugger – Business Green

Scientists urge Trudeau to restore climate research fund

A “crisis is looming” in Canadian climate science, thanks to the elimination of a key federal program that supports atmospheric research in Canadian universities, an international coalition of researchers said in an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. More than 250 scientists from 22 countries signed the letter, which was released on Monday by the Canadian research advocacy group Evidence for Democracy.

Globe and Mail

Disaster mitigation strategies that exceed code could save billions

Specific disaster mitigation strategies that go beyond the requirements of the 2015 International Codes model building codes could save the U.S. billions of dollars, according to its National Institute of Building Sciences just issued Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report. Investing in hazard mitigation measures to exceed select code requirements can save the nation $4 for every $1 spent, the report says.

BDC Network

	Canada ranks second in LEED certifications
	The Canada Green Building Council announced that Canada has once again ranked second in the annual Top 10 Countries and Regions for LEED list. Canada has a 2,970 LEED certified projects totaling more than 40.77 million gross square meters of space.
	Canda GBC, January 18, 2018

 

CaGBC searching for most innovative Green Building Products

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) is pleased to announce that the 2018 CaGBC Green Building Product of the Year Award competition is now open. CaGBC initiated the Product of the Year award in 2015 to encourage Canadian companies to develop sustainable building products and materials. For the third year, the Award is sponsored by UL Environment, an independent testing and certification organization that advances global sustainability.

Canada Green Building Council

Corporate use of cloud-based energy solutions

AEG is a sports and entertainment company that has 120 venues located around the world. It wants to reduce its environmental footprint and one step it is taking is to collect data and analyze that information. By 2020, it seeks to cut its greenhouse gases by 3.2% a year, cut its potable water usage by 2.3% annually and divert 70% of its waste from landfills.

Environmental Leader

Corporations purchased record-setting amount of clean energy

Corporations signed a record volume of power purchase agreements, or PPAs, for green energy in 2017. The increase in activity was driven by sustainability initiatives and the increasing cost-competitiveness of renewables, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) finds in a new report. A total of 5.4GW of clean energy contracts were signed by 43 corporations in 10 different countries in 2017.

Energy Manager Today – Bloomberg’s report

Sustainable fund asset growth measly but fated to grow

Sustainable fund assets under management in the US achieved limited gains in 2017. Estimated net inflows, including new 2017 fund launches, were $2.9 billion or 1.5%, according to new research from Sustainable Research & Analysis. However, as sustainable investing shifts away from a focus on purely ethical strategies to one of integrating ESG funds flowing into the sector will likely increase, according to report author Henry Shilling.

Environmental Leader

	Addiction to road salt is ruining everything
	This winter, Calgary has expanded its use of beet juice as a de-icing alternative to road salt. Despite a galaxy of relatively benign de-icing agents such as beet juice, this year cities across Canada will stubbornly continue to use literal mountains of salt on roads.
	National Post, January 22, 2018

 

Four provinces outperformed while pricing carbon pollution

Proponents of clean growth have had a busy year. Alberta wrapped up its consultation process on output-based allocations for large industrial emitters, Manitoba and Nova Scotia announced new carbon pricing systems, and the federal government took steps to implement a pan-Canadian backstop for carbon pricing.

Pembina Institute

Why Larry Fink isn’t waiting on Washington

“Without a sense of purpose, no company, either public or private, can achieve its full potential.” With these words, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink pushed further open the door to a new era of capitalism in his annual letter to CEOs. That new era may be the best chance we have left to solve a number of intertwined strategic challenges, such as climate change and economic disparity.

Green Biz

A U.S. lawmaker breaks the bipartisan barrier on climate change

In the three years since Representative Carlos Curbelo joined Congress, he has emerged as one of the Republican Party’s most vocal advocates for climate action. He has criticized the GOP’s and Trump administration’s climate denial on cable news networks and in newspaper op-eds and co-founded the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus.

Yale 360

Buyers brace as Trump slaps tariffs on solar imports

True to the solar industry’s fears, President Donald Trump late Monday imposed tariffs of 30 percent on imported solar cells and panels. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) had lobbied long and hard against the tariffs, from the day last April when Georgia-based solar-panel maker Suniva, fresh from filing for bankruptcy, filed a trade complaint with the Trump administration seeking protection from cheap imports.

GreenBiz

Products, Technology and Design

What will become of the electric utility in the age of microgrids?

What’s an electric utility? Better yet, what will it become? Those questions nag utilities — and their competitors — as technology disrupts the century-old power industry. Microgrids, electric vehicles, distributed energy resources (DERs), energy storage, the prosumer, blockchain will either upend utilities — or bring them new opportunity — depending on how you look at it.

MicroGrid Knowledge

Market Trends and Research

Green building trends for 2018 and beyond

There was a flurry of new development activity at the end of 2017, and the pace is holding steady as this year begins. We’ve observed several driving trends in the incoming projects and client requests – and those trends indicate that 2018 will be a different sort of year for green buildings. This story describes few of the big shifts expected in 2018.

BDC Network

The ‘big push’ transforming the world’s energy systems

As I’m sure you have noticed, renewable energy is taking the world by storm, driven by rapidly falling prices. Ever wonder how that happened? In 2009, I authored a concept paper for the United Nations Secretariat, for circulation at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. COP15 became infamous because it was deemed a spectacular failure.

GreenBiz

Residential Real Estate

Nissan gets into home solar & energy storage market

Connecting renewable energy to electric cars is of paramount importance if we want electric mobility to be fully sustainable, and although its newest product is geared toward residential electricity production and not specifically electric vehicle charging, combining Nissan’s home solar and storage product with an EV could deliver zero-emissions benefits to both home and vehicle.

TreeHugger

Government Programs and Incentives

EPA official: government must plan for climate change

A top manager who supervises the Environmental Protection Agency program responsible for cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated properties and waterways told Congress that the government needs to plan for the ongoing threat posed to Superfund sites from climate change. The testimony by EPA Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Barry Breen before a House oversight subcommittee conflicts with the agency’s policy positions under President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax.

Financial Post

Corporate Sustainability

Canada’s financial sector is missing in action on climate change

There is a pressing need to reassert the social utility of the financial sector – including the development of products, services and markets that help mobilize capital for social good. Why, then, is it so difficult for our financial institutions (and regulators) to “connect the dots”? Consider their conspicuous absence in recent global climate-change initiatives.

Globe and Mail

Water Management

Green Seal stamps a new CEO; a Whole Foods exec fights food waste

Sustainability careers are rising like green shoots from the snow. From former EPA officers moving to the private sphere to GreenBiz writers joining energy suppliers, here are some of the most notable developments. Do you know someone whose star is rising? 

GreenBiz

Other

	Sustainable Biz followers on Twitter
	Follower The Buildings Performance Institute EU is a Brussels based think-tank delivering policy analysis, advice and implementation support for buildings energy performance.
	Follow BizSustainably, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian business concerned about sustainability.