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Epic, Windmill create One Planet Living investment fund
Epic, Windmill create One Planet Living investment fund
Epic Investment Services is partnering with Windmill developments to create the One Planet Living Real Estate Fund. The impact fund focuses on producing environmental, social and market financial returns with an initial pipeline of projects in Ottawa and the GTA.
CarbonCure concrete used in new Amazon HQ
As Amazon builds its second headquarters in Virginia, the company is using concrete strengthened by one of the most quietly successful startups in Eastern Canada, CarbonCure Technologies which has developed a technique for injecting carbon dioxide into concrete.
BlackRock buys stake in ESG data house Clarity AI
BlackRock has taken a minority stake in sustainability and impact data platform Clarity AI in a bid to boost the ESG performance of Aladdin, BlackRock’s flagship portfolio management platform.
BlackRock’s shift to ‘net-zero’ investments accelerating
• Globe and Mail (Sub. required) • Investment Executive • CBC
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest fund manager, is accelerating its push to reduce the risks of climate change for clients, asking corporate leaders to disclose how their companies will fare in a “net-zero” economy and selling its stakes in those that fail to live up to heightened standards.
338 companies exceed Paris emissions goals
• Sustainable Brands • Environmental Leader
Analysis of 338 companies, out of the 478 total companies with targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), shows for the first time that companies with science-based targets are delivering emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement.
GM to sell only zero-emission models by 2035
• Yahoo Finance • Globe and Mail (Sub. required)
General Motors is promising to go green by making all of its global operations and vehicles carbon neutral by 2040, including selling only zero-emission models by 2035. The pledge is a bold embrace by the automaker of emission-reduction goals set by California.
Microsoft cuts carbon emissions 6% in on year
• CNET
Microsoft cut carbon emissions six per cent in its first year of trying to reverse the effect it’s had during its decades of existence. However, it said its approach so far won’t fix the broader problem of climate change.
Solar power going vertical with BIPV materials
Over the next several years, solar power is primed to move beyond the familiar rooftop solar installations and to building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) materials, an architecturally unobtrusive form of solar power generation, becoming a more prevalent part of Toronto’s built environment.
TransLink expands battery-electric bus fleet
• CBC
The first fully battery-electric bus line in Metro Vancouver will be up and running in 2022, according to TransLink, thanks to a $16 million investment from Canada’s gas tax fund which will be used to purchase 15 battery-electric buses from Canada’s Nova Bus.
‘Explosion of electrification’ to change transportation
The electrification of transportation is going to explode and drastically change how and what the roadbuilding industry builds, Jim Harris, a futurist and management consultant on disruptive innovation, told participants during the Ontario Road Builders’ Association’s first-ever virtual summit.
A Nebraska utility’s zero cost ready-made microgrid
Lincoln Electric System, the public power utility serving greater Lincoln, Neb., has set up a microgrid with up to 29 MW of load to serve critical facilities that is based around an existing duel-fuel, 29-MW generating unit, its substation, and infrastructure.
IEA launches group to tackle energy transition
The International Energy Agency is launching a global commission to address the impact on employment and society from the transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels, chaired by Denmark, it will include energy ministers from Canada, Norway, Mexico and Oman.
SteelZero commitments a new era for heavy industrial
• GreenBiz
Steel production experts say current processes for decarbonizing steel are too expensive for most manufacturers. There also isn’t sufficient demand for decarbonized steel for manufacturers to justify investing several millions of dollars into lower-carbon steel facilities.
Miners using new ESG and transparency framework
Mining Shared Value a non-profit initiative of Engineers Without Borders announced four mining companies have now adopted the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism with two more set to confirm. Ivanhoe Mines became the first company to use the standard in 2019.
Alberta Environment sat on years of coal contamination data
• Globe and Mail (Sub. required) • Globe and Mail (Sub. required)
A Canadian Press report on analysis of coal mine contamination in the Gregg and McLeod Rivers and Luscar Creek near Jasper, Alta., from the 1990s found toxic levels of selenium many times over the amount considered safe for aquatic life.
Arctic communities impacted by vanishing permafrost
The escarpment near Fort McPherson, a hamlet of 700 in the Northwest Territories, cracks and sloughs away amid some of the warmest years on record. Residents are worried a health centre, church and RCMP detachment are at risk of damage or collapse.
U.K. releases draft TCFD reporting guidance for pensions
Large U.K. pension funds will be required to commence climate reporting in line with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) from 2021, according to the latest proposals by the U.K. government.
ESG: Engaging with sovereigns funds
One of the narratives and unfolding developments in the world of ESG is that of its broadening to asset classes beyond public equity. A new frontier is that of collective investor engagement with sovereigns in particular environmental and social issues.
ECB should think green when picking assets
• Globe and Mail (Sub. required)
The European Central Bank should consider climate risk when buying assets or accepting them as collateral, top ECB policy-makers said on Monday, though Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann cautioned that price stability – not saving the planet – remained the ECB’s top priority.
How Biden’s sweeping climate plan impacts CRE
The broad series of measures contained within President Biden’s new executive orders represent the action-oriented initiatives that environmental groups and sustainability-minded commercial real estate professionals say they have been waiting for, and they bring top-down leadership to property-based emissions.
Industry Events
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Greenbuild 2024: Built to Scale
Nov 12 2024
to Nov 15 2024
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
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Sustainable Finance Forum 2024
Nov 28 2024
to Nov 29 2024
Shaw Centre, Ottawa
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