Canada needs nature-based solutions to rising sea levels

BIZ  ESG  •  Infrastructure, Investment, Land  •  National

Canada should increase its focus on nature-based solutions to help deal with the effects of rising water levels along our coastlines, says an intensive study from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.

Is it time to make ‘natural capital’ an asset class?

ESG  •  Globe and Mail

With less than 5,000 people spread over four square kilometres, the Town of Gibsons is a global leader in natural asset management. In 2014, the town adopted an asset management plan that explicitly recognized natural assets alongside traditional capital assets.

Vancouver tower a potential hybrid build game changer

Real Estate  •  Construct Connect

A proposed 40-storey hybrid wood tower in Vancouver, possibly the tallest in the world, needs to clear neighborhood planning approvals and complete design refinements. But the city is “quite enthusiastic about the project,” largely for its low-carbon and high-performance attributes.

Ontario’s tallest wood building breaks ground in TO

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

George Brown College is poised to transform Toronto’s skyline with the construction of a mass-timber building called The Arbour. The 10-storey structure — an addition to its waterfront campus — will be the first mass-timber and low-carbon institutional building in Ontario.

Calgary’s flood mitigation aims to tame Elbow River

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Naturally Sustainable Buildings › Nature-inspired building design that meets human needs

Phil Fung: Professional Engineer, Designated Consulting Engineer

New CaGBC report identifies next steps for retrofits

Real Estate  •  Daily Commercial News

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has released a report, Decarbonizing Canada’s Large Buildings, intended to take deep carbon retrofits of Canada’s large buildings further beyond the discussion stage and deliver the research and strategies needed to achieve market readiness.

Energy efficient homes getting easier to build

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

This fall, the tenants of a Hamilton, Ont.-based YWCA affordable housing complex for women-led families began moving into their newly completed one-, two- and three-bedroom units, situated in one of the largest “passive house” projects completed in Ontario to date.

California may cut rooftop solar incentives with boom

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

California’s 26-year-old program to get more people to put solar panels on their homes has been wildly successful.  Now state regulators may lower the incentives for people to go solar in a bid to reduce electricity bills for other customers.

Sand producer shifts from oilpatch to solar panels

Real Estate  •  CBC

The historic plunge of oil prices has forced Calgary-based Canadian Premium Sand away from the oilpatch to focus on using its sand for the solar industry. It recently chose Selkirk, Manitoba for a new glass manufacturing facility for solar panels.

Climate action group targets Exxon with resolution

Finance  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

Dutch climate-activist group Follow This has targeted Exxon Mobil Corp. with a shareholder resolution urging it to deepen its carbon emissions reduction targets, ramping up pressure on the oil and gas company over its energy transition strategy.

There is no time left for nuclear power development

Energy  •  Corporate Knights

Nuclear is no bargain, as the skewed ratio of nuclear shutdowns to start-ups proves. Of 13 nuclear reactors scheduled to come online in 2020, only three actually did. In Ontario, only the government absorption of huge cost overruns has kept nuclear afloat.

EV quietly powers firms in Atlantic Canada

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Neocon International president Pat Ryan’s advances into the electric-vehicle parts market are quietly fueling his factory’s expansion at an industrial park on the edge of Halifax, far from Canada’s automotive heartland.

Ford changes course, pitching Ontario as EV leader

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Doug Ford is pitching Ontario as an electric vehicle manufacturing powerhouse, seemingly a far cry from the premier who three years ago canceled incentives for people to buy them and scrapped Ontario’s cap-and-trade system which included electric vehicle rebates.

U.S. admin outlines EV charging infrastructure plan

Transportation  •  Environmental Leader

The Biden-Harris administration published a factsheet on its electric vehicle charging action plan. It outlines steps federal agencies are taking to support the development and deployment of EV chargers in American communities following the release of its $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Ontario Teachers, KKR invest in Australia’s GreenCollar

Social  •  Business Wire

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board joined KKR’s Global Impact Fund to become long-term investors in GreenCollar, a business working across the carbon, water quality, biodiversity and plastics markets to establish value for the environment and drive positive impact at scale.

BlackBerry achieves carbon neutrality

Energy  •  PR Newswire

BlackBerry Limited has achieved carbon neutrality across Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions, the three groups that categorize the emissions a company creates, as classified under the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Standard and by investing in carbon removal.

Article 6 creates two kinds of carbon credits

Finance  •  GreenBiz  •  GreenBiz

Using carbon credits toward corporate greenhouse gas emissions reductions has always been complex, and passage of Article 6 during last month’s COP26 hasn’t made things any simpler. Two important developments are a global task force a move to stop double counting.

Canada’s federal policies need a climate justice lens

Social  •  Corporate Knights

West Coast Environmental Law was one of over 100 signatories to a recent open letter by Lawyers for Climate Justice that urged government to apply a “climate justice lens” to federal statutes and forthcoming bills to avoid making climate change worse.

Sustainability needs a new narrative

Social  •  GreenBiz  •  GreenBiz

The sustainability community has advanced a number of important proposals in recent decades. However there are major shortcomings in the existing sustainability narrative arising in part from a sense of urgency and the “will-to-hope” that is characteristic of change advocates.