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CIBC completes 1st trade under Project Carbon

3 years ago

CIBC has completed its inaugural carbon credit trade between the Nature Conservancy of Canada and U.K.-based NatWest Group under Project Carbon. Verra, which manages GHG emission reduction certification projects, issued the voluntary carbon credits for the sale.

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Funds managing nearly $30-trillion in assets called for 1,600 of the world’s most polluting companies to set emissions reduction targets. The 220 investors, including Fidelity International and Amundi, wrote to CEOs of firms they invest in demanding targets to cap global warming.

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While best known for their waste-curbing impacts, circular strategies could provide an invaluable solution by tackling the largely neglected 70 per cent of global emissions connected to all the materials involved in our consumer society.

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The World Green Building Council has increased requirements for property and construction firms committed to its 2030 net-zero buildings challenge to encourage them to take greater account of embodied carbon and the lifecycle impacts of construction materials over the coming decade.

Energy Profiles

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CityHousing Hamilton and a host of partners celebrated the completion of the 18-storey Ken Soble Tower retrofit job in the Ontario city recently, paying tribute to the landmark project as one of the largest Passive House retrofits in North America.

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The ATCO Group, through its investment in Canadian Utilities Limited, announced it has acquired the rights to build two solar installations in Calgary aimed at providing clean, renewable energy to Alberta’s power grid and supporting the transition to lower-carbon energy.

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In southern Saskatchewan oil country, a crew drills for hot water. By 2024, DEEP Earth Energy Production Corp. hopes Canada’s first geothermal power plant will be generating low-emission electricity by tapping into the reservoirs and pumping them to the surface.

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Quebec Premier François Legault took to Twitter to celebrate after New York State authorities tentatively approved the first new transmission line in three decades, which would connect Quebec’s vast hydroelectric network to the northeastern U.S. grid.

Sustainable Biz Canada

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Canada’s pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. is purchasing two billion cubic feet of renewable natural gas (RNG) from Vanguard Renewables. Enbridge will invest about US$100 million in RNG upgrading equipment to convert the farm-derived RNG into pipeline-quality RNG.

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Fears that climate change itself has caused a structural change to wind patterns are overblown; there is no evidence that wind speeds have slowed permanently. Indeed, recent academic research point to more, rather than less, breeziness.

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Quebec-headquartered Couche-Tard bridges two car cultures that for all their similarities — areas with frigid, mountainous conditions, a scattered population and rich fossil-fuel reserves — have one key difference: Norway has converted around half its annual new car sales to battery-electric vehicles.

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Pandemic-driven shopping is having at least one unintended consequence: shipping emissions are on the rise. Bored at home, consumers order everything from washing machines to Peloton exercise bikes, fueling a global trade in goods and boosting demand for delivery ships.

Procore

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One ESG investing veteran cannot wait for tougher regulations to stamp out fund managers’ false claims in the $35 trillion industry he helped champion. Matt Patsky, who runs Trillium Asset Management, has been hunting for ESG investments since the 1990s.

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Although banks have been condemned for contributing to the climate crisis by helping fossil fuel producers raise cash in debt markets, the banking industry is making more money from underwriting ESG-related bond sales than debt for fossil fuel companies.

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Institutional investors increasingly have company-wide policies on ESG investment, with the largest firms leading the way. HSBC’s sustainable financing and investing survey 2021, which polled around 2,000 issuers and institutional investors, finds 59 per cent of investors have an ESG policy in place.

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Investors are ignoring the risks posed by poor human health, a glaring omission in the era of Covid-19. Much like climate change, health poses a systemic risk that investors “cannot diversify away from,” according to a report from ShareAction.

Calgary Real Estate Forum

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Climate Solutions at Work: Unleashing your Employee Power,” produced by Drawdown Labs, aims to help employees apply their skills and expertise to the climate crisis while holding their company accountable for sweeping climate action.

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A report by the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition highlights how carbon pricing can help businesses decarbonize and innovate in a cost-effective manner. Carbon pricing is a fee charged to greenhouse gas emitters covered by the scheme.

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The United Nations Development Programme has launched an initiative to help governments and the private sector in developing countries provide insurance for crises like pandemics and natural catastrophes. Disaster recovery costs the world’s 77 poorest countries an average of $29 billion annually.

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To mark the UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, Too Good To Go is sharing real-world ways in which individuals can contribute to waste reduction through their “#1THING” campaign.

Industry Events