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

DIALOG files patent for hybrid timber floor system

2 years ago

Canadian design firm DIALOG has filed global patents for a hybrid timber floor system (HTFS) which it hopes to utilize in super-tall skyscrapers.

 • 

In 2020, the extraction, transport and manufacturing of materials for the building sector accounted for 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If buildings are to make meaningful contributions to maintaining global temperatures then limiting emissions from building materials is crucial.

 • 

The process for updating Canada’s National Building Code every five years has hit a roadblock. It’s a continuing frustration for provinces and municipalities who view climate change in construction as a priority, leaving them without guidance from the federal level.

 • 

Battery Resourcers, a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, will open a commercial-scale, lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Georgia in August 2022 with the capacity to process 30,000 metric tons of discarded lithium-ion batteries and serve the EV industry.

Yardi Pulse

 • 

Getaway, the hospitality company that offers mindful escapes to tiny cabins in nature, hired Carlos Becil as its first-ever Chief Experience Officer last July, following a monumental year of growth and $41.7M Series C funding.

 • 

Trends in corporate sustainability have been consistent — an expanding climate crisis, lightning-speed growth in cleantech, rising pressure from many stakeholders and more. In the past year, however, “someday” seems to have finally become “today” — and there is no going back.

 • 

Chrysler plans to have an all-electric lineup by 2028, including a utility vehicle, according to the brand’s chief executive. Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Fiat, Dodge, and other brands, said Chrysler will offer its first electric vehicle (EV) by 2025.

 • 

An academic-industry collaboration led by Professor Mohini Sain (MIE) has produced a new sustainably-sourced, production-ready engine component for high-performance vehicles. The new part reduces emissions by replacing fossil fuel-derived plastics with renewable alternatives, decreasing vehicle weight and improving fuel efficiency.

Energy Profiles

 • 

Scientists’ ability to decipher past climate upheaval through ice cores and other “proxies” are generating a re-examination of periods of social turmoil linked to major volcanic eruptions over the last 2,500 years, prolonged droughts and other disturbances in the natural world.

 • 

Swedish bank SEB AB recently wanted to buy carbon credits but what it got was a pile of duds. Hans Beyer, SEB’s chief sustainability officer, says there were almost no validating carbon emission reduction claims for the 140 plus pitches received.

 • 

Investors’ enthusiasm for financing the green transition is growing, such as the surging interest in the EV industry. However, if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the investment will need to more than double to $5 trillion a year.

 • 

Crucial sustainability policy decisions in 2022 will have far-reaching implications for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s much-discussed climate change disclosure mandate, the potential expansion of China’s carbon-trading system and Europe’s new green investing typology. Here are five key questions for 2022.

Social Purpose Real Estate Financing

 • 

Last year was a reckoning for companies racing the clock to meet their 2025 sustainable packaging goals. The recycling system is not delivering the environmental benefits it’s capable of, and in some cases is actually causing environmental harm.

 • 

For the first time, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing a report “From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of Food Waste,” that analyzes the environmental impacts of food loss and waste (FLW) throughout the food supply chain.

 • 

Growing solar initiatives have opened a door to incorporate better land-use practices. With pollinator populations declining globally, solar arrays present a potential win-win opportunity to turn one sustainable resource initiative into a solution for restoring another essential resource.

 •   • 

More than 70 per cent of boreal woodland caribou herds in Canada are declining, and recent analysis suggests that forestry, oil and gas activities have accelerated the trend. A Pembina report finds that helping the species recover requires protecting critical habitats.

 • 

WeSpire, Cox and South Pole have dramatically improved how companies can measure and reduce employee emissions in hybrid and remote work environments. WeSpire — the leading employee-engagement platform for corporate environmental, social & governance initiatives has unveiled its Employee Carbon Management Solution.

 • 

The three interns that Canada’s Black Environmental Initiative sent to the COP26 climate conference may have been the only Black youth the country had inside the venue while communities of colour continue to face the harshest impacts of climate change.

 •   • 

A new study led by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario found Indigenous communities are at a higher risk of climate change-induced flooding because of pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities such as the legacy of colonization and access to resources.

 • 

The departure Friday of the White House’s top official on environmental justice Cecilia Martinez, senior director for environmental justice at the Council for Environmental Quality, puts a spotlight on both the administration’s successes and promises yet to be fulfilled.

Industry Events