Sustainable Business News (SBIZ)
c/o Squall Inc.
P.O. Box 1484, Stn. B
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5P6

thankyou@sustainablebiz.ca
Canada: 1-855-569-6300

Morguard continues to cut energy, water usage, GHGs

4 years ago

Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and water usage have all been reduced since 2015 as environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues remain a top priority for real estate giant Morguard Corporation. The company has initiatives spanning 321 commercial and multi-suite residential properties.

 • 

Manulife Investment Management announced that it has been recognized with top scores (A+ and A) in all submitted categories from the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) assessment report for 2018.

 • 

The OCMX™ announce the listing of Windmill Development Group to its online portal. Windmill is a 30-person real estate investment, consulting, development and management company with offices in Ottawa and Toronto dedicated to the commercial application of green building practices.

 • 

Bank of Montreal has decided to exit the majority of its business that provides insurance to insurers, partly due to climate change. Canada’s fourth-largest lender had previously said it was reviewing ways to keep its reinsurance business more consistent.

Energy Profiles Limited

 • 

Walmart Inc. isn’t the only corporation that has seen its Tesla solar panels catch fire. On Friday, Amazon.com said a blaze on the roof of one of its warehouses in California involved a solar system Tesla’s SolarCity division installed.

 • 

Inputs for assessing the financial viability of rooftop PV solar arrays have been shifting over the past several years. On one hand, government grants for system installations and power buy-back programs have all but disappeared across Canada.

 •   • 

The largest solar energy project in Canada has received provincial approval and is expected to start construction in Alberta next year. The project in Vulcan County will include 1.5 million solar panels that will provide enough energy — 400 megawatts — to power 100,000 homes.

 •   • 

The president of a company behind a $10-million Alberta geothermal pilot project says the tech is the first-of-its-kind. It’s a “game changer,” Alberta Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda wrote in a tweet after visiting the project near Rocky Mountain House.

City of Coquitlam - Land Sales

 • 

The “ecovillage” project in Okotoks, Alta. has been hotly debated in the town since it was first proposed in 2017 and shifted locations after nearby residents complained. On Monday, town council voted on first reading not to fund the project.

 • 

On a recent August evening, I dined under the stars in an apple orchard where tree branches already drooped under the weight of their ripening fruit. It was a magical evening planned by the Heart of Orléans BIA at Orléans Fruit Farm.

 • 

The plan for an airport on rural land north of Pickering was first hatched more than four decades ago, when Pierre Trudeau’s government expropriated 18,600 acres of farmland, including two villages, to create an airport on the city’s western flank.

 • 

The City of Berkeley made history in July as the first to ban natural gas hookups to new homes. It likely won’t be the last, part of a push by the cities across the state to reach deep decarbonization goals.

Better Buildings Breakfast

 • 

The United States has seen a groundswell of local efforts and leadership in the fight against climate change. Many cities have committed to power their own operations and 132 U.S. cities and counties have set 100 per cent clean energy goals.

 • 

Edmonton has joined other municipalities and declared a state of climate emergency, a move one resident likened to pulling a fire alarm. Larry Zhong calls himself an introvert but with the threat of global warming, felt compelled to speak out.

 •   • 

The commercial real estate industry is more conscious than ever of the effects of major storms. However, whatever improvements can be made to the built environment might not be enough to counteract the effects of ongoing climate and demographic changes.

 • 

It could be the beginning of the end for tiny toiletries. Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, said Wednesday it will eliminate small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel worldwide by December 2020.

BOMA

 •   • 

Holt Renfrew & Co. has signed the G7 Fashion Pact, pledging to improve sustainability standards across the retail industry. It focuses on action in three essential areas for safeguarding the planet: stopping global warming, restoring biodiversity and protecting the oceans.

 • 

A new study has found bodies of glacier-fed water consume significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The absence of life, alongside a high prevalence of sediment, leads to a process called chemical weathering, which consumes the CO2.

 •   • 

Bigger, hotter wildfires are turning Canada’s vast boreal forest into a significant new source of climate-changing greenhouse gases, scientists say. The shift, which may have already happened, could force firefighters to change how they battle northern blazes.

 • 

The head of the U.N. is urging world leaders to step up in the face of “a dramatic climate emergency” as wildfires blaze across Amazon rainforest, while politicians squabble over whether carbon price is an essential tool or a rip-off.

Industry Events