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Sun Life HQ earns ENERGY STAR building award

2 years ago

The Sun Life Canadian headquarters in Waterloo, Ont., which incorporates a historic structure from 1912, is one of four commercial buildings receiving 2021 Energy Star Canada awards for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

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Rising development charges and insufficient incentives are stifling some municipalities’ efforts to encourage developers to build green.
In Toronto, for example, increases in development charges ­­— including building fees and parkland dedication — have far outpaced the evolution of green building incentives.

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Building Transparency, which provides data and tools to reduce carbon emissions and foster better building, presents two groups bringing together global leaders to address the impact of embodied carbon within the built environment sector in the fight against climate change.

Students at Montreal’s Concordia University have access to clubs and programs designed to sharpen both their real estate and sustainable business skills, enhancing their readiness to enter the job market.

Canada Green Building Council

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Self-sufficient energy towers, low-carbon buildings, improved design precluding the need for air conditioning: The building sector is starting to see major sustainable achievements, but is in a hurry to make movement faster and more widespread.

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Walmart Inc. made its green bond market debut with a $2 billion offering, the largest ever from a U.S. corporation. The retail giant’s inaugural sustainable debt issuance comes amid efforts to reduce carbon emissions, boost recycling and clean its supply chain.

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Seven commercial real estate (CRE) associations have teamed up to launch a global diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) benchmark: ANREV, INREV, NAREIM, NCREIF, PREA, REALPAC and ULI have partnered to support and expand the Global Real Estate DEI Survey.

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Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems Inc. announced it struck a partnership with Germany’s Quantron AG to put its hydrogen fuel cell drivetrains into three types of heavy commercial vehicles to be delivered in the second half of 2022.

Energy Profiles

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Researchers working with a U.S.-based partnership have made a key advance in their effort to build a nuclear fusion-powered reactor at commercial scale. The development could speed the way to reliable, carbon-free energy without the constraints of renewables.

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Hydrogen for locomotives, marine vessels and stationary power applications is the key focus of a new partnership between Chevron USA and Caterpillar. The duo inked a collaboration agreement as part of an effort to decarbonize heavy-duty transportation and industrial sectors.

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Chevron, Delta Air Lines and Google announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to track sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) test batch emissions data using cloud-based technology. Sustainable aviation fuel is produced from biofeedstocks that can reduce lifecycle carbon intensity.

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Leading shipping associations have proposed creating a global levy on carbon emissions from ships to speed up the industry’s efforts to go greener.
Global shipping accounts for nearly 3 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions.

Property Vista

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The first consumer electronics company to provide detailed carbon-impact data on all of its products, Logitech International announced its new climate-positive approach to achieve carbon neutrality this year, and net-zero emissions by 2030 — and eventually, climate positivity.

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Chrissy Durcak, founder and CEO of Dispatch Coffee, started the business with one truck in Montreal and expanded to a multi-channel business with customers in more than 680 North American cities. Durcak aims to drive positive environmental transformation with her business.

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Improvement to water infrastructure lags across the country, which could lead to risks for businesses and consumers, according to a Banyan Water report. Advances in data collection, automation and machine learning could help eliminate millions of gallons of water waste.

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When COVID hit in 2020, tourism frantically tried to carry on, with hygiene at the crux — often by wrapping everything in plastic. As travel struggles to regain its footing, responsibility and sustainability must be given priority to futureproof the industry.

Sustainable Biz Canada

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North Carolina’s industrial-scale hog farms are a source of pollution, but Smithfield Foods plans to turn hog waste into biogas. Critics, however, say the project does not help the problem of waste being stored in lagoons and sprayed on fields.

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In Iceland’s barren landscape, a new container-like structure has risen alongside plumes of steam near the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. Its job is to reverse some of the damage carbon-dioxide emissions are doing to the planet.

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Many climate-fueled disasters set new records and led to billions of dollars in damages. All this is happening at about 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming since pre-industrial times. The planet is now entering its hottest period in the last 125,000 years.

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Since the start of the 20th century, sea levels have increased more than 21 centimetres, about a third of that in the past 25 years. Rising sea levels exacerbate climate change and put coastal populations and critical economic assets under stress.

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