CaGBC report recommends nationwide retrofit strategy

CaGBC report recommends nationwide retrofit strategy

A new report released today by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) delivers a detailed roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from large buildings like office towers, recreation centres, hospitals, arenas and schools across the country. CaGBC’s A Roadmap for Retrofits in Canada demonstrates the critical role that existing buildings play in realizing Canada’s low carbon future.

CaGBC – Canada Green Building Council

Federal government eyes energy retrofits in buildings

The federal government is ramping up its effort to encourage building owners to invest in energy retrofits, as one industry group reports Canadians could save money while cutting greenhouse gas emissions in existing buildings by 50 per cent in the next dozen years. Ottawa is working with provinces to announce measures this fall for retrofitting non-residential buildings as well as support for individual homeowners.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Real estate sector shows jumps in ESG performance

The global real estate sector has shown tangible improvements in environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, according to the 2017 GRESB Real Estate Assessment. In 2017, the sector reduced like-for-like water consumption by 0.5%, diverted 52.9% of landfill waste, and reduced like-for-like carbon emissions by 2.2%. The sector also reduced like-for-like energy consumption by 1.1%, according to the assessment.

Environmental Leader

Under Natura The Body Shop will return to its activist roots

Christopher Davis, The Body Shop’s head of CSR, talks to Ethical Corporation editor Terry Slavin in the first media interview since the sale by French cosmetics giant L’Oréal. The mood in The Body Shop’s headquarters in Sussex has been jubilant this week in the wake of last week’s completion of the €1bn sale by L’Oréal to Brazil’s Natura Group.

Ethical Corporation

Interview with Kirk Myers, Sr. Manager Sustainability – REI

I am a longtime REI employee and sustainable business leader who focuses on answering the question, “What should be better as REI grows and thrives?” My work zeroes in on REI’s carbon footprint, energy use, waste, sustainable forestry, water and green building–our core practices across everything we do day-to-day.

Environmental Leader

Walmart CEO: New HQ to bring in ‘natural light

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced to employees on Friday that the company plans to do away with the “inefficient” current campus of its corporate headquarters – a sprawling collection of more than 20 buildings in Bentonville, Arkansas – and replace it with new facilities that will encourage a more efficient business.

Environmental Leader – Walmart blog post

The missing brick in green buildings: The occupant

When CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) removed almost all wastepaper baskets from their offices in a drive to go paperless, staff brought in plastic bags to use as makeshift bins and hid them under their desks. Some even stuffed waste paper into their pockets, disposing of it when they got home. CCT chief executive Lynette Leong recounts how difficult it was to change the behaviour of building occupants, even in an environmentally-friendly building.

Eco-Business

	Entrepreneurs turning carbon dioxide into fuels
	In an industrial greenhouse about 30km from Zurich, aubergines and cherry tomatoes are ripening to perfection. The greenhouse uses waste energy from a nearby refuse plant, and carbon dioxide from the world’s first commercial direct air capture plant.
	The Guardian, September 14, 2017

 

We need net-zero buildings by 2050

Earlier this summer, a global banking giant announced a major drive to reduce the energy use in its portfolio of over 5,500 properties in 60 countries and a commitment to source 100 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020. The move was highly praised and its rationale unquestioned. A senior executive of that bank, JPMorgan Chase, remarked, “Why would we do it any other way?”

Green Biz

The Green Lodging Trends Report 2017 is released

Green Lodging News, lodging’s leading environmental news source, and Greenview, a leader in advancing hotel sustainability, have released the Green Lodging Trends Report 2017. The second annual report is based on data from 2,093 hotels in 46 countries and provides industry trends on topics ranging from energy management to communication to health & wellness. 

Green Lodging News – Green Lodging Trends Report Survey

Benchmarking regulations prompt jump in green certified properties

According to CBRE’s 2017 National Green Building Adoption Index, which ranks 30 of the largest commercial office markets in the U.S. by the share of green-certified square footage, 38% of all office space in the nation’s largest markets were LEED and/or ENERGY STAR certified as of 2016.

BDC Network

Green Energy Doors Open home tour gives a glimpse of future living

As the concern over climate change grows, so does the interest in energy efficient building and retrofitting. The Green Energy Doors Open (GEDO) tour Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 showcases passive and net zero homes and buildings around Ottawa — as well as an Energy Showcase featuring green energy exhibits that will provide a snapshot into the future of sustainable living.

Ottawa Citizen

	We must learn the new language of carbon
	As a contribution to Climate Week this month, Volans is convening a carefully curated roundtable of CEOs and chief sustainability officers in New York to discuss next steps with our work on the emerging concept of carbon productivity.
	Ethical Corporation, September 13, 2017

 

New study questions City of Vancouver’s energy plan

Taken together, the Renewable City Strategy, the Zero Emissions Building Plan and the Green Buildings Policy for Rezonings (including the Bylaw) do mean a de facto ban on natural gas in pursuit of the City’s 100% renewable energy target by 2050. Insufficient renewable natural gas is expected to be available to replace natural gas in the time frame under discussion.

Canada Newswire

Corporate renewable energy buyers remain undeterred

Corporate energy buyers are intensifying their quest to source renewable solar and wind power despite President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement, citing both improving project economics and a desire to accelerate greenhouse gas emissions reductions, according to exclusive research fielded by GreenBiz and developer Apex Clean Energy.

GreenBiz – The State of Renewable Energy Procurement

Residents will pay more for sustainable spaces, says survey

A new survey indicates that a majority of residents are willing to pay slightly more to live in a “green” community. A survey from AMLI Residential shows that 64% of respondents are willing to pay more for sustainable housing, while 84% say living in sustainable homes is important to them. And 85% believe living in sustainable homes is beneficial to their health.

Environmental Leader

Google’s search for business value in circular cities

Today, at VERGE 17, Google and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are launching a report on Cities in the Circular Economy: The Role of Digital Technology. It’s part of an ongoing exploration both organizations have been undergoing for the past two years on how to harness the flow of energy and materials in the urban environment.

GreenBiz – Cities in the Circular Economy: The Role of Digital Technology

Market Trends and Research

The ozone problem is back with a vengeance

Did the Montreal Protocol fix the ozone hole? It seemed so. With chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-eating chemicals banned, many scientists said it was only a matter of time before the ozone layer recharged, and the annual hole over Antarctica healed for good. But 30 years on, some atmospheric chemists are not so sure.

GreenBiz

Fresh hope raised of global warming limit

Scientists in the UK have good news for the 195 nations that pledged to limit global warming to well below 2°C: it can be done. The ideal limit of no more than 1.5°C above the average temperatures for most of human history is possible. All it requires is an immediate reduction in the combustion of fossil fuels − a reduction that will continue for the next 40 years, until the world is driven only by renewable energy.

Globe-net.com – Climate News Network

Rebuilding a resilient, renewable Caribbean

Last week, Hurricane Irma ripped through the Caribbean with devastating fury. Its 185-mph winds smashed buildings, downed trees and power lines, overturned trucks and tossed boats ashore like toys. Its storm surges turned streets into raging rivers and flooded whole communities. Irma, the strongest Category 5 hurricane on record in the North Atlantic, killed more than three dozen people and caused staggering amounts of damage.

GreenBiz

Government Programs and Incentives

Changes likely to come to federal wetlands regulations

Big changes may be coming to federal wetlands regulations after the Trump Administration rescinded the Obama-era Clean Water Rule. A Trump executive order includes a paragraph that could trigger sweeping changes in the way wetlands will be regulated at the federal level.

BDC Network

Businesses call on Trump to reverse decision on flooding legislation

As the devastating climate change-fueled impacts of Hurricane Irma continue to unfold, and the financial costs of Hurricane Harvey continue to escalate, a network of businesses is calling on the Trump administration to reinstate the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, known as FFRMS.

Ceres

Cities and Towns

A vision of the future with an infinite suburbia

A while back, TreeHugger covered an MIT conference about the future of suburbia. Joel Kotkin announced that “this is the reality we live in, and we have to deal with it. Most people want a detached home.” Economist Jed Kolko (then with real estate website Trulia) predicted that “Population is growing faster in the South and West than in the Northeast and Midwest.”

TreeHugger.com

Transit, bikes and transportation

Remember the girl on an iphone hit by a car?

In August we wrote Driver in car hits 14 year old with right of way in crosswalk, and all they care about is the iPhone. Seriously, all anyone went on about was that it was her fault for FaceTiming. The post got an incredible 250 comments, many of which agreed, She became the poster child for the Distracted Walking crowd, blaming the victim for looking at her phone, her parents for not bringing her up properly.

TreeHugger

Water Management

Could alternative financing revive North America’s water network?

Financing improvements to North America’s water network is a gargantuan task—one that has ascended the public sector’s ability to handle alone. The recent public health crisis in Flint, Mich, has cast a bright spotlight on water quality issues and increased public scrutiny on how North America’s aging water infrastructure is operated and maintained.

Water Canada

Waste Management

York Region can help solve Ottawa’s waste diversion woes

It’s not all trash talk, but one Toronto-area municipality does have some pointers for the City of Ottawa on how to handle its waste diversion program. The Regional Municipality of York, made up of nine towns and cities north of Toronto, has good reason to — its waste diversion rate is significantly higher than the capital’s rate.

CBC.ca

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.