Stock exchanges introduce sustainability reporting

Stock exchanges introduce sustainability reporting

As many as 21 stock exchanges across the world could introduce sustainability reporting standards in the coming months. They would join the 17 exchanges that currently recommend listed companies to report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues— going a step further by providing model guidance to participating companies.

Green Biz

Companies must disclose climate change risk

Corporations should provide investors with clear and systematic disclosure of the risks that climate change poses to their future economic health according to a task force reporting to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.  The group pointed to carbon-intensive, fossil-fuel companies as being among those that will be most significantly affected by the transition to a lower-carbon economy, with risks being borne by their lenders and investors.

Globe and Mail

Study: Canada lags in commercializing clean technology

A new study benchmarks the Canadian clean technology sector against the United States and finds that Canada is coming up short. “There is intense global competition in the clean tech arena as nations strive to capitalize on the environmental, economic and social benefits derived from clean tech innovation,” said Leah Lawrence, president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).

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How to do corporate sustainability properly

The structure of a corporate sustainability program is the most significant indicator of its sophistication. Yet while corporate sustainability has evolved significantly over recent decades, there’s no handbook on how best to structure a program. As a result, companies looking to embrace the triple bottom line may feel they are building in the dark.

Green Biz

Co-operators wins award for sustainability, social governance

The Co-operators has been awarded an Excellence in Governance Award in the category of Best Practices in Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues from the Governance Professionals of Canada. The Co-operators was recognized for its progress in embedding sustainability and ESG considerations into every aspect of its business.

Canada Newswire

New Canadian venture capital fund supports clean tech

BDC Capital today announced plans to launch a new $135-million venture capital fund to support Canadian energy and clean tech start-up businesses with global potential. BDC Capital Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology (ICE) Venture Fund II will invest in 15 to 20 new high-impact Canadian start-up firms that demonstrate efficiency and strong scalability.

Globe-Net

Avison Young joins EllisDon’s Carbon Impact Initiative

The EllisDon-backed Carbon Impact Initiative (CII) this week announced real estate services firm Avison Young has signed on as a founding partner. The low-profile CII has a high profile mission: make Canada’s real estate industry a leader in the drive towards a low carbon economy. Considering that commercial real estate plays a major role in carbon emissions, it’s a tall order.

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Skyline REIT engages Wyse for metering

In late November Skyline Apartment REIT announced that it planned to use Wyse Meter Solutions Inc.’s SyNERGY utility expense management program in 345 of its multi-residential and commercial buildings. That means that Wyse will take over the auditing, analyzing, reporting and benchmarking of Skyline’s multi-million dollar utility expenses.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Ontario greenbelt plan squeezes detached housing supply

Ontario officials, in a presentation to their Ottawa counterparts in June, said the province’s own land-use restrictions around its largest city have constrained the supply of detached homes — a position the development community has long-held as the main reason for rapidly rising detached home prices in the Greater Toronto Area.

Financial Post

Planned renewable energy neighbourhood moves in Edmonton

Plans for a 100-per-cent renewable energy neighbourhood on the site of the old municipal airport in Edmonton took a leap forward Tuesday.The executive committee recommends $19.4 million be used for Stage 1 of the project’s utility infrastructure needs.

CBC News

Canadian climate deal expected to cost consumers

Canadians will pay billions of dollars more a year to fundamentally change the way the country produces and consumes energy as a result of the new pan-Canadian climate deal. The cost for emission-reduction measures including carbon pricing, and the tally – through private and public spending – reaches in the multibillions of dollars per year.

Globe and Mail

Agrium throws support behind Sustainable Development Goals

 Agrium, a worldwide producer and distributor of agricultural products and services, became a Visionary Supporter of the Global Compact Network Canada (GCNC) – the Canadian network of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Agrium wants to support and help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. 

CSR Wire

Shell switches focus increasingly to renewables

Royal Dutch Shell plans to link part of its executive bonuses to greenhouse gas emissions and conduct more active screening of future investments to further efforts to reduce the energy group’s carbon footprint. The company will focus on renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, as well as low-carbon biofuels and hydrogen as a key growth engine beyond 2020.

CBC News

Bill Gates launches new clean tech investment fund

A year on from announcing plans to accelerate investment in clean energy research on the sidelines of the Paris Summit, Bill Gates has officially launched a new $1 billion clean tech investment fund alongside more than a dozen of his fellow billionaires.

Green Biz

Will Elon Musk be a White House clean tech advocate?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been selected to be an economic advisor to President-elect Donald Trump. Now that Trump has been elected and Musk has his ear, what will the clean tech champion say? 

Green Tech Media

Green Companies and CSR Reports

Procurement services company wins green accolades

 Avendra, North America’s leading procurement services provider serving the hospitality industry, has received the 2016 SDCE Green Supply Chain Award. The award recognizes companies who are making sustainability a core part of their supply chain strategy, and are working to achieve measurable sustainability goals within their own operations and supply chains. 

Marketwired

Mine corporation receives environmental honours

Teranga Gold Corporation has been awarded the 2017 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award from the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). The award recognizes  initiative in establishing and maintaining good relations with local communities and in protecting and preserving the natural environment during an exploration program or mine operation.

SC Johnson releases 2016 CSR report

SC Johnson released Going Beyond, its 2016 Sustainability Report. This issue marks the company’s 25th annual report on its environmental and social efforts. The report shows how being a family company inspires the company’s decisions and actions in three main areas – Championing Transparency, Protecting the Environment and Improving Lives.

CSR Wire

IKEA reports long-term investments in sustainability

The IKEA Group Sustainability Report for fiscal year 2016 shows strong progress towards its People & Planet Positive strategy and continued long-term investments in sustainability. A financial frame of EUR 1 billion, announced in early December, takes investments earmarked for sustainability to over EUR 3 billion.

CSR Wire

Cisco issues 2016 CSR report

Cisco’s 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, highlights Cisco’s progress delivering on the company’s CSR mission to accelerate global problem solving to positively impact people, society and the planet, shows how Cisco is leveraging its technology and expertise to promote sustainable outcomes through responsible business practices and transformative solutions.

CSR Wire

CSL’s CSR report highlights company achievements, challenges

CSL released its corporate responsibility performance for 2016. CSL’s key achievements include: The distribution of US$6 billion to local communities in the form of supplier payments, employee wages and benefits, shareholder returns, and government taxes.

CSR Wire

Hotel publication will issue special edition on sustainable hospitality

In June 2017, The Hotel Yearbook will publish its first special edition focused on sustainable hospitality. This special edition gathers the thoughts and research from a wide-ranging group of senior executives, and others globally to ask, “What lies ahead for the global hotel industry in light of the ever-changing and challenging environmental, societal and economic dimensions?”

Green Lodging News

Government policy

Survey: Trump voters support clean tech

A new survey of 1,000 people conducted by the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies says 75 percent of Trump voters support “action to accelerate the deployment and use of clean energy” — including solar, wind, energy efficiency, and community renewable projects.

Green Tech Media

Financing sustainability

Consumer social responsibility spending is down

A two-year steady climb in social responsibility among consumers experienced a slip in 2016, according to the fourth annual Conscious Consumer Spending Index. In total, 1,012 Americans were polled this year for the ongoing benchmarking study, which is fueled by Good.Must.Grow., a socially responsible marketing consultancy.

CSR Wire

Meet the Russian mining tycoon cleaning up emissions

Vladimir Potanin makes an unlikely environmentalist. The Russian tycoon derives half his wealth from a mine operator that’s the biggest polluter in the nation’s dirtiest city. But Potanin plans to spend billions of dollars on the modernization of his mine, cutting annual sulphur-dioxide emissions equal to the entire output of the toxic gas from Europe’s five biggest economies.

Bloomberg News

Study sheds light on regional cost of power

It is no secret that natural gas and wind power are the cheapest sources for electricity generation in much of the U.S. But when accounting for local rules and availability, the picture of the lowest cost for new power generation in the U.S. becomes more nuanced, according to a new interdisciplinary study by the University of Texas at Austin.

Green Tech Media

Sustainability professionals

Sustainable organizations need to increase workplace diversity

New research shows that green-focused foundations and nonprofits must reframe the way they build diversity in leadership positions — which begins with executive search. “We need diversity to happen at all levels of environmental efforts, starting with the hiring process,” said Whitney Tome, executive director of Green 2.0.

Green Biz

Clean technology

Free cooling? That’s the principle behind airside air efficiency

One of the most valuable paths to reducing HVAC costs is harnessing the air outside the structure. The optimal way of doing so — and the impact that is achieved — depends to a great extent on the local climate. Free cooling has a lot of advantages. Navigant Research says that the market, which it more formerly calls airside air efficiency, is growing.

Energy Manager Today

Mining companies seek our renewables for energy efficiency

Mining companies are digging into renewable energy as a way to reduce costs and offset the impact of volatile conventional fuel prices as the world shifts to a low-carbon economy. Industry executives are focused on how energy innovation can make mines more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable.

Financial Post

Vancouver electric vehicle battery company receives federal funding

The Government of Canada announced an investment of up to $1.9 million in Vancouver-based Nano One to support the development of cutting-edge electric vehicle battery technology. Nano One produces low-cost high-performance energy storage materials for batteries as well as a wide range of advanced nanostructured composite materials.

Canada Newswire

Mine site wins award for use of renewables

The Nechalacho project east of Yellowknife has won an award for best use of renewable energy at an exploration site. The rare earth elements project is largely at a standstill, but that didn’t stop Avalon Advanced Materials from winning the award at the Energy and Mines’ Renewables in Mining Awards in Toronto in late November.

CBC News

Biodiesel fuel powering elaborate LED light display in Japan

Organizers of an elaborate mid-winter light display running until January along the Meguro River in downtown Tokyo are going off-grid as a way to limit harm to the environment. Biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil collected from residents and restaurants in parts of the surrounding neighbourhood is being used to power more than 420,000 LED lights along the river.

Bloomberg News

Dyson’s new light bulb is meant to last 22 years

Dyson’s newest invention isn’t a new super powerful or ultra quiet vacuum cleaner, in fact, it isn’t a vacuum cleaner at all; it’s the Cu-Beam Duo, a light that is rated to operate for 22 years without a bulb change.

Building Design + Construction

Water management

Spilling of raw sewage into Canadian waters increasing

More than 205 billion litres of raw sewage and untreated waste water spewed into Canada’s rivers and oceans last year despite federal regulations introduced in 2012 to try to solve the problem. In fact, the amount of untreated waste water, which includes raw sewage and rain and snow runoff, that flowed into Canadian rivers and oceans increased by 1.9 per cent over 2014.

CBC News

Green buildings

U.S. charges ahead with net zero energy schools

Six school districts and two states are among the first aiming to make net zero energy schools mainstream. As a part of the Obama Administration’s effort to cut energy waste in America’s buildings, today the U.S. Energy Department launched the Better Buildings Zero Energy Schools Accelerator.

U.S. Energy Department

Mixed-use urban agriculture development underway in Detroit

Sustainable Brands® joins forces with the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) and BASF to debut a mixed-use urban agriculture development project today. A new Community Resource Center in Detroit’s lower North End is the result of  collaboration to redefine growth and development models in urban communities. 

CSR Wire

Wildlife and business

Canada demonstrates leadership in plant protection

Canada’s leadership in protecting new plant varieties has received international recognition with the election of Anthony Parker, Canada’s Commissioner of Plant Breeders’ Rights, to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). 

Canada Newswire

Innu fight for sustainable development in Northern Quebec

An Innu nation is asking the Quebec government to help protect the river whose salmon stocks are vital to their traditional economy. The request came Tuesday as officials in Quebec City met with the mining industry and indigenous communities to discuss the Plan Nord — a government-backed initiative to develop mines and tourism in the province’s remote northern regions.

Montreal Gazette

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