TORONTO, ON — A new report finds the Canadian commercial real estate industry is playing catch-up with respect to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues compared to international peers. The Canadian Commercial Real Estate Sustainability Intelligence Report, released by sustainability research firm Jantzi-Sustainalytics in association with the Real Property Association ...

News | Newswire | Mar 3, 2010

Amsterdam — Royal Philips Electronics announced this week that it has made significant progress in its EcoVision4 program launched in 2007, which set targets for green sales, green innovation investments and for increased operational energy efficiency by the end of 2012. Philips reported that 31 per cent of total 2009 ...

News | Newswire | Feb 23, 2010

CHANDLER, AZ. — MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Assoc.) has announced the launch of Eco-efficiency in Manufacturing, a major study of the strategies and approaches being used to support sustainability initiatives. The study is open to all manufacturers around the globe in all product sectors. The study will culminate in a ...

News | Newswire | Feb 17, 2010

TORONTO, ON — The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) late yesterday announced the outcome of the competition for three research chairs in environmental science, funded by the Government of Ontario. The Ontario Research Chairs Selection Panel has advised COU President Bonnie M. Patterson that the Ontario Research Chair in Renewable Energy ...

News | Newswire | Feb 17, 2010

TORONTO, ON — The United Steelworkers has been announced as a key participant in a six-year study of the challenges posed by climate change to Canadian workplaces and possible solutions to these issues. The research project is led by Carla Lipsig-Mummé, professor of work and labour studies in York University's Faculty ...

News | Newswire | Feb 16, 2010

New Delhi — The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recently launched the Vision 2050 report (2.6 MB), a study that lays out a pathway leading to a global population of some 9 billion people living well, within the resource limits of the planet by 2050. The report, released ...

News | Newswire | Feb 16, 2010

Over the past decade, corporate environmental sustainability has become an almost universally recognized precept of business conduct. Environmentally conscious organizations are finding that their sustainable practices impact suppliers as well as customers; leading organizations are literally promoting sustainability throughout the entire value chain. In this context, strategically applied procurement processes ...

Features | Natasha Renaud | Mar 4, 2010

“Green”-labeled products are becoming more common in every industry, but not all live up to their billing. If you want to make an impact with your product, what can you do to stand out? Recently, Green Business sat down with Kevin Royce, owner of Eco Building Resource in Aurora, Ontario, ...

Features | Robert Colman | Feb 18, 2010

Davos, Switzerland — Yesterday, 10 leading organizations announced the launch of the GreenXchange (GX), a Web-based marketplace where companies can collaborate and share intellectual property (IP) which can lead to new sustainability business models and innovation. Announced at a CEO breakfast at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the organizations ...

Features | Newswire | Jan 28, 2010

Whether a building is labeled “green” or not doesn’t necessarily determine its efficiency level — some buildings are just better managed than others. The challenge in managing any property is to get individuals working within it to operate it properly. This is particularly difficult in restaurants where “efficiency” is all ...

Features | Robert Colman | Jan 21, 2010

As editor of Green Business, I get an opportunity to speak to a number of fascinating personalities and insightful individuals. These few interviews are insightful for different reasons, but all are worth another read. Paul O’Brien: Taking tidal power by storm Scotland hopes to bring 2 GW of tidal and ...

Features | Robert Colman | Dec 17, 2009

In October, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Craib Design & Communications released CSR Trends 3, a comprehensive survey of corporate social responsibility (CSR) report trends, benchmarks and best practices. As part of the report, PwC's Mel Wilson offered a list of eight key components that should be part of the preparation of any ...

Features | Mel Wilson | Oct 29, 2009

The late American writer, David Foster Wallace, in his characteristically probing style, once asked, in an essay titled “Consider the Lobster”, if it was “all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for gustatory pleasure.” His intent was to pose an admittedly unsettling challenge to the way many of ...

Columns | Rob Colman | Jan 20, 2010

Cities are among humanity’s most durable artifacts, and they are more than the sum of their buildings — they are tapestries of human lives and social networks that, at their best, tap the power of place and evoke the heart and soul of a particular geography. Too often, we have ...

Columns | Rob Colman | Nov 18, 2009

Over the summer I have been reminded, again, of the perilous state of the world’s environment and the need for perhaps less planning and more institutional reform.  On July 2, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported that governments worldwide are failing to stem a frightening drop-off ...

Columns | Rob Colman | Sep 8, 2009

In a recent Calgary Herald article on the challenges facing Alberta’s coal-fired generating stations in a carbon-constrained future, TransAlta President and CEO, Steve Snyder said "we have to solve the carbon dioxide issue, but we can’t bankrupt the province to solve the problem." ("Alberta in CO2 firing line", May 2...

Columns | Rob Colman | May 19, 2009

By Rob Abbott Let’s face it, people are nervous right now. The economy is convulsing and there is much talk about the environment being "off the table" of policy and business decision-making as the focus shifts to job protection or the containment of losses. While the fear is real and ...

Columns | Rob Colman | Feb 11, 2009