Dream sets out to achieve net-zero GHG by 2035

BIZ  Energy, Real Estate, ESG  •  Clean Energy  •  National

The Dream group of companies has set out to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 in its operations and developments. As part of the initiative, the Canada Infrastructure Bank will loan Dream up to $136.6 million for 19 building retrofits.

CMHC developing climate-risk score for real estate

Real Estate  •  Financial Post

The CMHC is developing a flood and wildfire risk score for real-estate listings as natural disasters increase in the country, The Logic has learned, even as assembling the data for those estimates proves difficult.

Building a Cleaner Canada › Bringing ‘circular economy’ efforts to Canada’s construction industry is a worthy challenge

Sarah Bingham: Director of Development and Sustainability, Adera

Council unveils new carbon measurement standard

Real Estate  •  Daily Commercial News

The International Cost Management Standard (ICMS3) sets out a methodology for construction professionals and developers to account for the amount of embodied carbon their projects will create, stated a release from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Design work begins for CO2 capture facility in Merritt

Energy  •  Journal of Commerce

Engineering and design work has begun for a large-scale facility near Merritt, B.C. that will capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and produce up to 100 million litres of ultra-low carbon transportation fuel each year.

Carbon removal services can aid clean energy transition

ESG  •  Sustainable Brands

Is carbon removal the solution to our climate crisis?

Energy  •  Mother Jones

Getting rid of the billions of tons of carbon we’ve emitted over the past 150 years wouldn’t come cheap. At current prices, nations would have to shell out, collectively, about $5 trillion a year for the rest of the century.

The meaning of net-zero and how to get it right

ESG  •  Nature.com

The concept of net-zero carbon emissions has emerged from physical climate science. However, it is operationalized through social, political and economic systems. We identify seven attributes of net-zero, which are important to make it a successful framework for climate action.

Walmart Canada to eliminate single-use plastic bags

BIZ  ESG, Waste  •  Retail  •  National

Walmart Canada plans to eliminate single-use plastic bags in its more-than-400 locations by Earth Day 2022. The changes apply to in-store purchases along with online grocery pickup and delivery orders, which will prevent nearly 750 million bags from entering circulation.

Conscientious consumption: The SB holiday gift guide

Waste  •  Sustainable Brands

With no end to the pandemic and its many ripple effects, we can use a little bit of brightness in our lives! Here are some of the many companies, platforms and products aligned with a more intentional approach to consumption.

3 tactics that engage consumers on climate

Waste  •  GreenBiz

Among the important steps for business leadership to take on climate change is on how to engage customers on climate. Climate action costs money, so pioneers risk being disadvantaged — unless they learn how to create value from their climate leadership.

Making plastic waste into asphalt for sustainable roads

Waste  •  Sustainable Brands  •  Yale

Companies such as Dow are working on technology that produces a recycled polymer modified asphalt , which transforms plastic waste into durable asphalt for roads and parking lots. Retail giant Meijer’s is using this technology for its Michigan parking lot.

Protecting Earth: If ‘nature needs half,’ what of people?

Social  •  Yale 360

The campaign to preserve half the Earth’s surface is being criticized for failing to take account of global inequality. But such protection is essential for nature and for creating a world that can improve the lives of the disadvantaged.

Corporate Secretary’s board diversity report

Social  •  Corporate Secretary

The report is based on a survey conducted among governance professionals to give insights into what types of diversity information companies are reporting, whether they believe board diversity brings benefits and whether they’re trying to enhance diversity on their board.

ESG burnout is real. I know because I have it.

ESG  •  Responsible Investor

Dear ESG Person: It was bottled water that made me write this letter to you. I was ordering the food shopping for a family weekend away recently and was told that some adult relatives only drank bottled water.

Addressing natural emissions speed carbon reductions

Energy  •  Environmental Leader

CarbonSpace’s technology monitors carbon dioxide uptake and emissions from farms, fields, forests and other land use. It says that information can help businesses and governments make changes and reduce emissions based on the impact of different types of land use.

Ex-Danone chief appointed chair of ISSB

Finance, ESG  •  Responsible Investor

The former CEO and Chair of Danone, Emmanuel Faber, has been named Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the body tasked with developing global sustainability reporting standards.

A third of UK biz not acting on supply chain sustainability

ESG  •  Environmental Leader

Supply-chain consulting firm SCALA conducted research earlier this year on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain sustainability. SCALA disclosed nearly one-third of UK businesses are taking no steps to address supply chain sustainability.

Raise carbon fees without pushing industry abroad

Finance  •  Corporate Knights

Political leaders in the European Union, the United States and Canada are increasingly exploring how they might implement carbon border adjustment measures (CBAMs), also known as carbon border taxes, to allow greater ambition on emission reduction without undermining their economies.

Dutch pension fund shuns 200 firms to align with SDG goal

Social  •  Responsible Investor

Philips Pensioenfonds has aligned its €4.5 billion developed markets equity portfolio – almost 20 per cent of its assets under management – to four UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leading to the exclusion of roughly 200 companies with a value of around €300 million.