11 ways Canadian companies are

doing their part for the environment

CN is exploring the viability of natural gas-fuelled locomotives.Natural gas has a lower carbon content compared with diesel fuel, so that locomotives using natural gas would produce significantly fewer carbon dioxide emissions. CN’s pilot project, launched in 2012, began with the retrofit of two 3000-horsepower diesel-fuelled locomotives. The company is working to develop a state-of-the-art natural gas railway engine for locomotives and a standardized railway fuel tender. Click here to learn more.

COSIA is an organization of companies that wish to accelerate the pace of improvement in environmental performance in Canada’s oil sands through collaborative action and innovation. To date, the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance member companies have shared 560 distinct technologies and innovations that cost over $900 million to develop. The Alliance has 13 members and is growing.Click here to learn more.

Syncrude, a member of COSIA, plants a variety of trees and shrubs indigenous to the region and climate, as part of its reclamation process. Syncrude Reclaimed Mine Site, Roth & Ramberg Photography.

Maple Leaf is reducing carbon emissions, energy usage, and solid waste. Maple Leaf removed 12 million foam polystyrene trays from circulation in 2013, and reduced annual usage of metal by 363 metric tonnes, by switching canned meat flake products from steel to aluminum cans. The Maple Leaf production plant in Mississauga, Ontario was recently awarded the LEED Gold certification. This is all part of Maple Leaf’s environmental strategy. Click here to learn more.

BMO achieved enterprise-wide carbon neutrality in August 2010.BMO did so by reducing emissions related to employee business travel, lowering energy use in buildings it occupies, purchasing electricity from renewable energy sources, and buying carbon credits to offset remaining emissions.BMO is included in the Global 100 – a list of the most sustainable corporations in the world. Click here to learn more.

Shell Canada’s Quest project is the first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage project in the world for an oil sands operation. The project will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands Project by more than one million tonnes per year. This represents up to 35% of the direct CO2 emissions from the upgrade (the equivalent to the emissions generated by 175,000 North American cars per year). Click here to learn more.

Background : aerial view of Shell Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, Alberta. Insert: Shell employees standing next to the wellhead of the first Quest CO2 injection well. Photos courtesy of Royal Dutch Shell.

Corus Quay in Toronto is LEED Gold Certified, and is gaining international recognition as one of the world’s most impressive offices. The building includes features such as four green roofs, gray water recycling, advanced building and lighting automation, and a five-storey-high bio-filter wall. Annual energy savings are the equivalent of 916 mature trees; 1,369,420 litres of water and 2,647,542 kWh of energy.Click here to learn more.

Business leaders are making fundraising history, conserving natural habitats across Canada. ‘A Force for Nature’ is a fundraising campaign of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), led by John Risley, President of Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. and Paul Desmarais Jr., Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Power Corporation of Canada. It is most ambitious campaign in the NCC’s history, and it surpassed its fundraising goal of $500 million, meaning that the NCC will protect 752,000 acres of at-risk natural habitat across Canada, home of more than 145 species at risk. Click here to learn more.

TransAlta is transitioning its energy mix to more renewable sources and ensuring that even these energy sources are safe for the environment. By 2025, TransAlta plans to have coal account for just 25% of their generation mix. The company has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 27% since 2005 and plan to achieve a 55% reduction in coal related GHG emissions by 2030.TransAlta is among the first wind energy companies in the world to install wildlife protective covers to reduce the number of wildlife mortalities at wind farms. Learn more about Soderglen wind farm here.

Installation of wildlife protective covers at Soderglen wind farm. Photo courtesy of TransAlta.

Scotiabank is educating Canadians on the shared benefits of home energy efficiency and green home improvements. The Scotiabank Ecoliving program emphasizes saving money by saving energy. Their website includes a financial calculator and information about government rebates, which allow users to plan and finance their projects and see the savings that can result from environmentally friendly renovations. Click here to learn more.

Businesses are going platinum. PCL Constructors Inc. has partnered with Cadillac-Fairview Corp., an Ontario-based owner, operator and developer of commercial real estate, to be its prime contractor on the Calgary City Centre office tower.The project will be one of the first office towers in Canada to be designed to achieve the LEED Platinum designation. The building will use 25-45% less energy relative to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (1997). The building is now under construction, scheduled for occupancy summer 2015. Click here to learn more. Image courtesy of Cadillac Fairview

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the senior voice of business in Canada, wants Canadian consumers, businesses, and governments to conserve more energy.Find their most recent report here.

“…Canada needs to begin with a renewed commitment to energy conservation. We must use existing and future energy supplies as efficiently as possible, embracing the maxim that the cheapest form of energy is the unit that is not used…”