Trillium Housing offers unique shared equity mortgage

BIZ  Real Estate, Finance  •  Homes, Land  •  National

Providing shared equity mortgages to people who would otherwise not be able to own houses is a proven solution to the home affordability problem, says Joe Deschênes Smith, principal and founder of Trillium Housing.

Turning concrete into a sustainable building material

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Concrete is the single most abundant human-made material. Some 70 per cent of the world’s population lives in a concrete building. Annually enough concrete is produced to pave over the Great Lakes and it is also catastrophic for the environment.

The world’s largest wastewater energy transfer project

Energy  •  ESE Magazine

With an investment now secured through the Canada Infrastructure Bank approximately 90% of heating and cooling requirements for the Toronto Western Hospital will soon come from a $42.9-million retrofit project that may be the world’s largest raw wastewater energy transfer project.

CN Rail earns ‘A’ on sustainability from non-profit CDP

BIZ  Finance, ESG  •  Clean Energy  •  National, International

The global environmental non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project has recognized CN Rail for leadership in corporate sustainability by placing it on its ‘A’ list. Out of nearly 12,000 companies scored by the organization, CN was one of 200 to make the list.

NYC to ban natural gas hookups for new buildings

Real Estate  •  CNBC

New York City Council voted Wednesday to pass legislation banning the use of natural gas in most new construction, a move that will substantially slash climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, a measure that is expected to start at the end of 2023.

EU buildings in line for energy-saving overhaul

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Under new rules, European Union countries would be required to renovate their least energy-efficient buildings by 2030 to cut emissions and save fuel in order to achieve the blocs emission reduction target of 55 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030.

EnergyTech Today › Smart is a marathon, not a sprint

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

CPP to focus on high-carbon emitting industries

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail  •  Canada Newswire

CPP Investments climate change strategy will concentrate on high-carbon companies deemed critical to the economy cut their emissions including “hard-to-abate” industries such as agriculture, chemicals, cement, conventional power, oil and gas, steel and heavy transportation rather than divest its holdings.

Are pension funds investing in ‘climate failure’?

Finance  •  Corporate Knights

This fall saw an accelerating trend of global pension funds divesting from oil, gas and coal while adjusting investment portfolios for climate change. Yet Canadian pension funds, including CPP Investments, have bucked the trend, retaining carbon-intensive portfolios and infrastructure assets.

Racing to zero. On track, or playing with numbers?

ESG  •  Sustainable Brands – Part 1 – On track, or playing with numbers?  •  Part 2 – It’s the (Circular) Economy, Stupid.

It’s entirely possible for companies to declare victory, with apparent ease, in meeting their net-zero goals — and to do so within impressively rapid time frames. No sooner are leading companies announcing their net-zero commitments, than they’re actually delivering the result.

A summary of 3,000 companies climate ambitions

ESG  •  GreenBiz

Private sector actions could be critical to keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius target alive in the next few years. Following is a summary of the climate action pledges data as of Oct. 15, from 3,000 of the largest global publicly traded companies.

2021, the year of carbon software

Energy  •  GreenBiz  •  Environmental Leader

One of the biggest climate tech narratives of 2021 is the enterprise software industry culminating with a deluge of recent announcements about funding for startups developing carbon management applications and the acceleration of corporate commitments for emerging carbon removal technology.

Mean radiant temperature key to understanding comfort

Energy  •  TreeHugger

Mean Radiant Temperature changes the way you think about buildings. It’s critically important but almost nobody understands it. Maybe nobody wants to understand it because it would mean codes and the way buildings are designed would have to change.

It’s time to address reliability of EV charging

Transportation  •  GreenBiz

There are a little over 51,000 public EV charging stations in the U.S. and Canada, far from the 1 million-plus mix of public Level 2 and DCFC stations needed in the U.S. by 2030 to support the requirements of an estimated 26 million EVs.

Lenders, insurers press for sustainable developments

Real Estate  •  Bisnow

Communities across the world are pushing developers to build sustainably and governments are introducing measures to demand it. The pressure is building from those who hold the purses for developers to prove they’re trying to tread carefully on the environment.

Green scorecard planned for seniors’ facilities

Real Estate  •  REMI Network

Long-term care homes and retirement residences in Ontario are getting an environmental performance benchmarking tool specially tailored for seniors’ facilities. Work is now underway on adapting the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care’s established green scorecard for hospitals.

TD engages diverse firms to lead green bond offering

Finance  •  PR Newswire

In a first for a Canadian bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank closed a three-year US$500 million green bond offering through a syndicate of underwriters that includes minority-, women- and veteran-owned business enterprises (MWVBEs).

Hamilton tops per-person carbon emissions in GTA

Real Estate  •  Toronto Star

An Atmospheric Fund report has found that Hamilton had the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the GTA last year and reduced vehicle usage and industrial output during the pandemic resulted in a 13 per cent decline in emissions.

Methane, the cattle industry’s biggest climate challenge

Health  •  CBC

As of January 2020, according to Statistics Canada, Alberta had 40 per cent of the national cattle herd of approximately 11.2 million head. Saskatchewan had about 20 per cent making the beef industry’s role in climate change a contentious topic on the Prairies.

Closed Loop Venture Group gets $50 million investment

Waste  •  GreenBiz

As 2021 draws to an end, Closed Loop Partners’ venture capital group — the Closed Loop Ventures Group — has closed its Venture Fund II, which is backed by investors including Microsoft and Autodesk Foundation allowing the fund to surpass its $50 million goal.

A landmark year for building electrification

Real Estate  •  Rocky Mountain Institute

As the climate, health, and financial imperative to eliminate fossil fuels from buildings becomes more urgent, states and cities across the country are stepping up to tackle this challenging sector. This year was an exciting one for the effort to electrify buildings in the United States, from city building codes and appliance regulations all the way up to federal government commitments.