Dream releases social procurement strategy

BIZ  Real Estate, ESG  •  National, Toronto / GTA

Dream released a social procurement strategy to make its supply chain more diverse and inclusive by 2025. Dream’s strategy is one of the most ambitious of its kind in Canada and will showcase diversity and equity in the real estate sector.

Reimagining Canada’s economy: purpose before profit

Finance  •  Sustainable Brands

In Canada’s first-ever Purpose in Business Week, business, government and thought leaders are creating a Roadmap to accelerate the purpose economy and mainstream social purpose in business that will require cross-sector engagement and collaboration across six critical levers.

Climate and construction: grasping embodied carbon

Energy, Real Estate  •  Daily Commercial News

Discussion abounds concerning how the construction industry needs to address its GHG emission levels. The number most often quoted quantifying the industry’s global contribution is 40 per cent. However, that needs to be broken down before potential solutions can be understood.

EnergyTech Today › Tech can increase building reserve funds in unexpected ways

Brad Pilgrim: CEO and co-founder, Parity Inc.

To meet its net-zero goals, Canada must collaborate

Energy, Transportation  •  Toronto Star

We need a strategy to marry our best technological solutions with industry partners to meet our objectives. New transportation systems and industrial decarbonization are part of the solution; however, industry also expends vast amounts of carbon.

Hydro One uses EV charging stations to back up grid

Real Estate, Transportation  •  Daily Commercial News

Hydro One and Peak Power have announced the launch of a pilot program to study the benefits of using electric vehicle charging technology to provide back-up electricity during power outages. Vehicle-to-Home charging technology will be installed at program participants’ homes.

REBA now known as Clean Energy Buyers Alliance

Energy  •  GreenBiz

There is no organization doing more to support corporations procuring renewables than the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA). It is the centralized resource for corporate energy buyers and one of the first trade associations for clean energy focused on buyers.

First Nation opposes hydro project on Magpie River

ESG  •  Corporate Knights

The Magpie River in Quebec came under threat when Hydro-Québec included the river in its plan for a hydroelectric dam. Alarmed conservationists, whitewater rafters, a Côte-Nord municipality and a First Nation band formed the Muteshekau-shipu Alliance to oppose the project.

Canada’s costliest natural disasters by insurance claims

Real Estate  •  Reuters

Massive floods in British Columbia have dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days, triggering mudslides that have destroyed several major roads and killed at least one person. Insurance loss estimates will not be available for several weeks.

How insurance companies manage with climate risks

Real Estate  •  Global News

The cost of Canada’s changing climate has been in the spotlight for years, be it from wildfires or ice storms. But historically, water damage has been the most expensive — and British Columbia is dealing with historic flooding following torrential downpours.

B.C. to include carbon credits in reforestation program

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

B.C.’s government announced a reforestation milestone, with one billion trees planted. Since 2018, the first planting season after the NDP formed government, the province has replaced forests that have been logged, lost to wildfires, or destroyed by mountain pine beetle infestation.

B.C. floods most expensive natural disaster of 2021

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star  •  Financial Post

The flooding in southern B.C. will be the largest natural disaster for the insurance industry in 2021, says DBRS Morningstar’s Marcos Alvarez. “Increases in average annual insured weather-related losses are higher in Canada than at the global level,” he said.

Bob Eccles, Jean Rogers on ISSB and ESG reporting

ESG  •  GreenBiz

What does the formation of the ISSB mean for ESG reporting? To answer that, I asked Jean Rogers, founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and global head of ESG at Blackstone; and Robert Eccles, founding chairman of SASB.

Creating the sustainable organization of the future

ESG  •  GreenBiz

Shareholders and stakeholders alike are demanding exponentially more from businesses on sustainability. Not just on disclosure and reporting, but tangible actions and clarity on their environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) strategies and quantifiable results.

ClimateView helps cities decarbonize with free tech

Energy, Real Estate  •  Environmental Leader  •  BBC

Climate-action technology company ClimateView announced it has made parts of its ClimateOS platform available to cities free of charge. ClimateView says the technology will help cities develop strategies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with Paris Agreement commitments.

NCC to cut gas-powered tools

Real Estate  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen

The National Capital Commission will ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and other small tools on its property — and the City of Ottawa could potentially follow suit. The ban does not come into effect until April 2023.

London’s Tulip Tower, poster child for unsustainable design

Real Estate  •  Treehugger

The Tulip was slated to be the tallest building in London: a thousand-foot tall observation tower that would sit next to the Gherkin. The developers described it as the “centrepiece of a new innovative hub for culture, business and learning.”

Travel sector offers greener, more sustainable options

Transportation, ESG  •  Globe and Mail

Tourists have always come to experience nature when they visit Twillingate, Newfoundland, but now they want to ensure their experience is environmentally friendly as well. Experience Twillingate makes environmentally friendly values a selling point, upping their eco-game.

Disparity in sustainable business travel highlighted

Transportation  •  Travel Weekly

Disparity between employees’ expectations for green business travel and current company policies is highlighted in new research. 75 per cent of travellers want to reduce their reliance on air travel for business because of its impact on the environment.

COP26 pledge-a-palooza needs action to fulfill promise

ESG  •  Corporate Knights  •  Yale Environment 360

COP26 was a torrent of lofty talk, culminating in a watered-down agreement that represents both progress and failure. It will be up to all of us to ensure difficult decisions don’t give way to good intentions and greenwashing.