Gladu is a member of Domtar’s newly formed External Sustainability Advisory Committee, and as principal owner of Mokwateh consultancy, he provided a third-party Indigenous review of the company’s new Global Indigenous Relations Policy. With this in mind, we asked him to share his thoughts on what’s next for Indigenous partnerships in Canada.

Q: How did you get your start in forestry? What brought you to the industry?

Forestry is in my blood. My dad was a logger, his dad was a logger, and I spent a lot of time in the bush growing up. I actually grew up off reserve, which was a result of historical circumstances. In 1958, our community was burned to the ground by the provincial government to make way for a provincial park. As a result, many families – including mine – had to relocate.

Growing up off reserve shaped my perspective; I always knew I was First Nation, but I didn’t have the same daily connection to community life that others did. Instead, I found my connection to my heritage through time spent on the land and in the forest, often hunting and fishing with other community members.

I originally wanted to be a conservation officer, so I went to forest tech school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. My first job was helping with First Nation community forests across Ontario. The enthusiasm and togetherness I felt at those on-reserve community forest meetings helped me realize that my passion was for working with our people and supporting Indigenous communities, rather than chasing corporate titles.

Q: Many Domtar employees and customers aren’t aware of the company’s Indigenous relations work. Can you give an example of Domtar raising the bar for Indigenous relations?

One of the best examples comes from the Lake Nipigon forest and the relationships that grew out of that work. Before 2008, First Nations had almost no management control over forests in our own backyards. We were constantly fighting for access to wood and opportunities to harvest, which created tension with industry. Then the sector hit a downturn in 2008, and everything changed. Domtar, government representatives and our First Nations sat down together, and we negotiated 100% management control of the Lake Nipigon forest. That was a turning point. It showed what true Indigenous partnerships could look like.

Even after gaining control, we didn’t have a sawmills or processing facility until 2012, so we maintained strong relationships with companies like Domtar to deliver wood. It became a symbiotic relationship: Domtar needed fibre for its mills, and we needed markets for our wood. Over time, that collaboration evolved into something much deeper: shared problem-solving and mutual respect. Today, we are supplied with oversized trees and Domtar purchases our dimensional wood for final processing and markets. With the capacity of about a truck a day, we employ four sawmill workers and a manager.

There’s also a personal story that illustrates this evolution. My dad worked as a logger and truck driver years ago, and his boss in the bush was Tom Ratz. Back then, my dad was a bullheaded First Nation guy that was a high production operator, and he and Tom sometimes butted heads. Fast forward to today. My dad is the Chief of Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sand Point First Nation), and Tom, until he recently retired, was chief forester for Ontario within Domtar. They are still working together. That change underscores why respectful, long-term relationships matter. In forestry communities, roles change, but the connections remain. Domtar’s willingness to adapt, listen and work alongside Indigenous leadership is what raising the bar looks like. Tom, my dad and I have plans to go fishing together this summer. We’ve also had Lana Wilhelm, director of Indigenous relations, spend time in our community on the land. I can’t stress enough the importance of industry partners spending time in community. It’s the relationships that count.

Q: What do you see as the next evolution for Indigenous partnerships in the forest sector?

The sector needs to think differently and invest in Indigenous business infrastructure, especially in northern communities. It’s not enough to offer jobs; companies should support Indigenous-owned businesses, like trucking or harvesting companies, that build local capacity.

In northern communities, non-Indigenous forestry operators are retiring, and often, the next generation doesn’t want to inherit the business and sometimes leaves the community altogether. Indigenous people – who’ve lived there since time immemorial – are the ones who remain. As a generation retires and banks become more hesitant to finance forestry operations, Indigenous communities are stepping up to fill those gaps.

By investing in Indigenous business infrastructure and supporting Indigenous-owned companies, the forest industry can build local capacity, strengthen the supply chain and ensure a stable workforce. The more capacity Indigenous communities have, the more certainty we generate for the sector. Supporting Indigenous involvement isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s essential for the future of Canada’s forest industry.

Q: With this in mind, how can a company position themselves well through Indigenous partnerships to face the challenges in our sector?

Whether it’s a small local partnership that will create a handful of jobs or millions of dollars in infrastructure spending, you need to start at the same place.

One of the most important lessons I learned early in my forestry career was about grading trees. When I was at Sault College, we were taught to assess trees for their value – whether they were prime lumber, mixed or just pulp and firewood. During one exercise, our instructor asked us to grade a yellow birch. Most of us called out our guesses from a distance, but he told us we were all wrong. None of us had taken the time to walk around the tree and see its full condition. There could have been a split or rot on the far side that we missed.

That experience stuck with me. It’s a perfect analogy for building Indigenous partnerships: you have to take the time to “walk around the tree” – to truly get to know the community and understand their needs, aspirations and perspectives. Companies shouldn’t assume they know what’s best for Indigenous communities. Instead, they need to spend time in the community, listen and learn. Strong relationships are built on mutual understanding, and that leads to better outcomes for everyone.

Q: You were recently appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to the First Nations Major Projects Coalition Advisory Centre, and you’re the only person with a forestry background. How does that background give you insight into the challenges and opportunities at a national level?

Forestry has the longest-standing relationship with Indigenous communities in Canada. My experience in the sector has grounded my understanding of how business and community intersect. While forestry projects won’t necessarily fit the scale of national initiatives, the lessons learned – about Indigenous partnerships, respect and capacity-building – apply across the economy. I’m grateful for what forestry has taught me, and I carry those insights into all my work. 

Learn more about JP Gladu and his work: JP Gladu: Indigenous economic development leader | Mokwateh

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City Developments Limited (CDL) has released its Integrated Sustainability Report (ISR) 2024, marking its 17th sustainability report since 2008. Themed “Zero in on Nature”, the digital report focuses on CDL’s progress towards achieving its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals and targets under the CDL Future Value 2030 Sustainability Blueprint. The report aligns with global and local climate and nature goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the blueprint is integral to CDL’s business strategies and operations, helping CDL mitigate ESG risks and capture growth opportunities.

Complementing its pledge towards its first stage of Operational Net Zero by 2030, the Company achieved a 14% reduction in total operational carbon emissions across the Company’s business operations in Singapore for the year under review (January to December 2023) compared to 2022. The Company has met its interim 2023 target and is committed to meeting its Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-validated target of a 63% reduction by 2030. As part of its renewed SBTi-validated greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set in 2021 to align with a 1.5°C warmer scenario, CDL stepped up on integrating and tracking its carbon reduction performance for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Mr Sherman Kwek, CDL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our sustainability-centric business model is anchored on the four key pillars of Integration, Innovation, Investment, and Impact, which will enable us to achieve various deliverables such as decarbonisation and disclosure. This approach has enabled CDL to strengthen our triple bottom line to create long-term value while working towards our net zero ambitions and building nature-positive cities and solutions. CDL is committed to respecting nature, preserving biodiversity, advancing climate action and enhancing green building performance.”

Commitment to nature and biodiversity preservation through TNFD framework

The Company has built up a unique blended sustainability reporting framework comprising the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards at its core since 2008, adding CDP since 2010, the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) since 2013, Integrated Reporting Framework since 2015, SDG Reporting since 2016, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework since 2017, SBTi since 2018, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Framework since 2020. This year, CDL adopted the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.

CDL is one of the pioneering Singapore companies amongst 320 companies worldwide to voluntarily report according to the TNFD Recommendations. CDL aims to assess, disclose and manage nature-related risks and opportunities and provide consistent and comparable reporting to its stakeholders. Adopting the TNFD Recommendations represents a natural progression and expansion of the Company’s sustainability framework since embracing the TCFD Recommendations in 2017. To manage its biodiversity footprint, the Company is using a cloud-based AI platform that supports the measurement and management of biodiversity impact by relying on data-backed information.

Transition towards full compliance with ISSB’s S1 and S2 requirements

In June 2023, ISSB launched the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2 globally. In February 2024, Singapore announced mandatory Climate-Related Disclosures (CRDs) in a phased approach, in line with the recommendations from the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee (SRAC). Starting from FY 2025, listed issuers such as CDL will be required to report ISSB-aligned CRDs.

To prepare for the transition to the new standards, CDL worked with an external consultant to perform a comprehensive gap analysis evaluating its sustainability disclosures in ISR 2023, focusing on TCFD and SASB disclosures against the ISSB Standards’ CRDs. The gap analysis revealed that CDL’s disclosures are largely well-aligned with the ISSB Standards. CDL’s ISR 2024 has been expanded, where applicable, with a view to transiting towards full compliance with ISSB Standards by FY 2025.

*Adopted in December 2022 during COP15, this framework supports the achievement of the SDGs and aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Target 15 focuses on having businesses and financial institutions assess, disclose and reduce biodiversity-related risks and negative impacts

CDL’s ISR 2024 can be found at www.cdlsustainability.com

Follow CDL Sustainability on social media:

Instagram: @CDL_sustainability/ instagram.com/cdl_sustainability/

Facebook: @CDLsustainability / facebook.com/CDLsustainability/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/cdl-sustainability/

The post CDL first in Singapore to publish nature-related financial disclosures in 2024 sustainability report appeared first on Corporate Knights.

In the latest landmark ruling, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month approved its highly anticipated rules mandating material climate risk disclosures by public companies. Despite its subsequent decision to pause implementation amid a series of legal challenges, the SEC is holding its ground on the new climate disclosure requirements. At the same time, regulations continue to emerge everywhere from Europe to Singapore further signalling that enhanced sustainability disclosure is here to stay.

What’s in store for Canada’s capital markets?

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is also taking measures toward developing country-specific rules for sustainability disclosures and monitoring international developments in this area.

As recommended by the independent review committee on standards setting in Canada, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) was formed to ensure that the global standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) are fit for purpose for the Canadian context. The CSSB recently released its first disclosure standards for public consultation, with the aim to issue the finalized recommendations in mid-September.

It is anticipated that the CSA will then open a consultation on regulation for Canadian capital markets and that the CSA will focus on those standards that support climate-related disclosures, as seen with other global regulators.

Organizations such as Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) have been vocal supporters of the value of mandatory disclosure regimes for improving corporate transparency and accountability.

Business and finance have a major role to play in advancing sustainability standards and should rightfully have a voice in shaping their adoption for the Canadian market. The accounting profession has a particularly unique opportunity to lead the charge in the development, implementation, and assurance of sustainability and climate-related reporting and disclosures.

“With a long history of ensuring that organizations assess and manage risk and report trustworthy information in the capital markets, Canadian CPAs will be instrumental in helping companies build credible sustainability strategies and transition plans,” says Pamela Steer, CPA Canada’s president and CEO. “These are deliverables that businesses across all sectors and industries should be prepared to produce in the foreseeable future.”

Another Canadian regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions which oversees Federally Regulated Financial Institutions (FRFI) and pension plans released guidance for FRFIs on climate-related disclosures in March 2023.

You can’t manage what you can’t measure

In an increasingly interconnected global economy, harmonized reporting frameworks are imperative for Canadian companies to remain competitive and attract investment. However, without the systems in place to collect relevant and accurate climate-related data, businesses risk flying blind when charting their course toward a sustainable future. Likewise, shareholders and other stakeholders require reliable and comparable data to effectively assess an organization’s true impact.

EY Canada’s 2023 Climate Risk Disclosure Barometer confirms that only 26 per cent of the more than 1,500 companies analyzed are incorporating the quantitative impacts of climate-related risks in their financial statements.

However, the changing rules and requirements are creating an increased need to empower both the users and preparers of climate-related information with best practices for disclosing sustainability performance.

CPA Canada has stepped up to the challenge, acknowledging the pivotal role that CPAs play in driving sustainable business practices and facilitating informed decision-making. The CPA profession has been active in the sustainability space for more than 20 years, raising awareness about the impact of environmental, social and governance factors on maintaining a healthy economy.

“Our collective strength positions the Canadian accounting profession and Canada as a whole to adapt to shifting regulatory frameworks and stakeholder preferences, but we still have a long way to go to drive meaningful climate action” says Steer.

Tools of the trade

As the national accounting body and an ISSB capacity building partner, CPA Canada produces a wealth of practical tools and resources to support CPAs and other business leaders in navigating the obligations and challenges that go hand in hand with rapidly evolving mandatory disclosures.

CPA Canada’s virtual ESG Symposium this June will bring together industry experts, thought leaders, and practitioners to explore trends and opportunities for championing sustainable economic growth and social development. The third annual ESG Symposium will lean into the theme of Action and Accountability to prepare and inspire CPAs and the broader business community on the role of good governance and controls in business accountability.

CPA Canada is also helping to build capacity for sustainability reporting through its highly regarded ESG Certificate program. Unique in the breadth and depth of material covered the program is designed to help CPAs and financial leaders harness the skills they already have in applying controls and rigour to financial information for use in the realm of sustainability.

To get started on your own journey to comprehensive climate-related reporting, visit cpacanada.ca.

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On this basis, the global community reached a consensus to:

• triple renewables and double energy efficiency, while transitioning away from fossil fuels.
• support climate innovation and encourage cross-border and inter-generational collaboration for sustainable social and economic development.

From pledge to action

With a trajectory and plan defined, we now need to fully tackle the crux of the issue, starting with the 70% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are energy related.

From the way we source energy to the way we use it across buildings, grids, mobility, and industry, there is no time to waste in embracing every pathway to decarbonize, for the sake of planet, people and yes, the economy too.

55% emission saving potential based on existing solutions

Contrary to popular belief, decarbonization of demand accounts for more than half of global emissions reduction, to reach net-zero by 2050, with supply decarbonization accounting for the rest. On the demand side, efforts are focused on demand optimization (changing consumption patterns) and process changes (including electrification of the energy system). These transformations can result in significant carbon and energy savings, while also benefiting consumers.

For example, in buildings, technologies such as heating electrification and active energy efficiency solutions have the potential to lower carbon emissions by 2030, generating up to 70% carbon savings for building dwellers, and up to 30% energy savings with a return on investment within 3-5 years.

In the industrial sector, automation and digital tools can optimize processes, productivity, performance, and energy usage, resulting in a 20% reduction in electrical, instrument, and control capital expenditure and a 10% improvement in process energy usage.

Scaling the adoption of these existing solutions is crucial to achieve the goal of doubling the rate of energy efficiency by 2030.

Most of the global grid is unfit for renewables today

It is estimated that wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) will contribute over 80% of the global power capacity increase in the next two decades. To accommodate for this clean energy push, around 80 million kilometers of power lines need to be added or replaced by 2040, which is equal to the entire existing global grid.

Currently, there are approximately 3,000 GW of renewable power projects waiting in grid connection queues, with half in advanced stages. This backlog is five times the solar PV and wind capacity added in 2022, indicating that grids are hindering the transition.

To further the tripling of renewable energy, distribution grids must be modernized, and decentralized. Innovative funding models, like Energy-as-a-Service can help overcome the challenge of upfront capital investments and make energy resilience more accessible.

For example, AlphaStruxure’s Energy as a Service model, pioneered by Schneider Electric and the Carlyle Group, combined with EcoStruxure Microgrid solutions, helped Montgomery County become a leader in fleet electrification and a sustainability archetype for local governments across the United States — all with zero capital outlay.

The Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot now boasts a 6.5 MW microgrid with on-site solar, battery energy storage, and natural gas generation. Moreover, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure solutions ensure that the buses can operate even during main grid outages, providing peace of mind for the County’s 1.1 million residents.

138 million new jobs to be created out of the energy transition

To seize this opportunity, we need to re-train and upskill people. This requires a deliberate effort to include public stakeholders, civil society groups, youth, and women to be part of the solution.

In addition, close to 2 billion people lack access to clean, reliable electricity. Equipping individuals and organizations with knowledge and tools for sustainable clean energy infrastructure has a positive multiplier effect across various socio-economic dimensions, including livelihood, health, education, security, and women’s empowerment.

As part of Schneider Electric’s sustainability impact goals, the company is aiming to connect 50 million people to clean and reliable energy by 2025, and 100 million people by 2030. As well as training 1 million people in energy management.

Since 2009, Schneider Electric has provided clean energy solutions to more than 40 million people, invested in 26 companies, trained 430,000 people, and supported more than 5,600 entrepreneurs with the help of 7,000 trainers globally. This progress would not have been possible without close partnerships with local public sector stakeholders and civil society groups.

Impact companies at the forefront

While there is momentum from the private sector to support climate action, only 8% of corporate leaders have the necessary digital tools to achieve their net-zero targets. Companies often underestimate the impact of electrification and enhanced automation in their sustainability plan.

Schneider Electric serves as an example of a company driving sustainability and reaping the benefits. It has consistently ranked at the top of worldwide ESG ratings for over a decade and was named the World’s Most Sustainable Corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights. What is more is that Schneider Electric has seen its sustainability-led strategy contribute tripling its annual revenue from €9bn in 2003 to €34bn in 2022.

Not only are Schneider’s Net-Zero targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), fully aligned with their Corporate Net-Zero Standard, but it has also implemented a comprehensive and measurable Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) plan that is monitored at the executive level and embraced at all operational levels, and showing concrete quarterly progress.

An example of how this translates is Schneider Electric’s flagship program Zero Carbon Project, which aims to halve supplier CO₂ emissions by 2025. The initiative provides capacity building, resources, and expert support to program participants, helping them set and achieve their carbon reduction targets while advancing decent work standards across the supply chain. To date the company has achieved almost 25% reduction, nearing the halfway target.

By aligning environmental, social, and business strategy, Schneider Electric intends to live up to Impact Company principles:

1. Do good to do well and do well to do good: Business and financial performance enable environmental and social impact. Sustainability is a source of performance and growth​.
2. Bring everyone along: Positive impact can only happen if you are not a lonely leader, if you foster a movement of global goals and local efforts to leave no one behind​.

Schneider Electric’s mission is to be the digital partner of sustainability and efficiency for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure, and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation, software, and services.

Find out more about how to implement an energy and sustainability strategy here. For more information on acceleration pathways for corporates post-COP28, visit here.

The post Corporate climate action: 3 acceleration areas to get ahead on in 2024 appeared first on Corporate Knights.

“Integrating sustainability into business strategies globally is a challenge as expectations rise for cost-effective, credible programs with rigorous reporting. At TELUS, we have a consistent vision with ambitious environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and science-based climate targets. Now, we’re also turning our focus to technology enabled nature-based climate solutions such as AI/GIS integrated tree planting. Our approach is to partner with nature-focused technology innovators, science and research organizations and Indigenous communities and knowledge keepers to ensure the utmost integrity of the environmental solutions we’re offering to our customers.” – Geoff Pegg, Head of Sustainability at TELUS

Why nature restoration?

According to research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, nature can provide up to 37 percent of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature rise under two degrees celsius. With rising ocean temperatures and forests under threat from wildfires, pests and deforestation, there is an urgent need to restore and care for our ecosystems.

Giving back to the planet can also be good for business: such programs have been proven to help organizations differentiate their ESG programs and operational sustainability. Our consumer research tells us that if an organization has a strong purpose, people are four times more likely to purchase their products and services. According to research led by First Insights, this is especially true for younger consumers: 75 percent of Gen Z state that sustainability is more important to them than brand name when making purchase decisions.

From replanting wildfire-affected areas to restoring coastal kelp forests – the TELUS Environmental Solutions team and our partners offer a range of natural climate solutions designed to make positive social and environmental impacts in Canada and across the globe.

Drone wildfire reforestation with Flash Forest

Flash Forest harnesses the power of drones to accelerate post-wildfire restoration. In severely burned areas, this speeds up the natural process that would typically take years to recover. Leveraging drone technology, we’re able to reach areas deemed unsafe for human tree planters and can plant a range of native tree species so that forests are more resilient in the future.

Blockchain verified restoration with veritree

Kelp forests and mangroves, vital for marine ecosystems, face increasing threats from climate change. The process of seaforestation, utilizing fast-growing kelp, is highly scalable, with 25% of our coastlines suitable for this carbon capturing solution. Proprietary blockchain verification technology enhances transparency and brand trust by ensuring the carbon sequestered by each kelp plant is accurately accounted for and allocated only once.

ESG planting with Shakti by TELUS

Planting trees is one of the leading approaches to addressing the impacts of climate change. Research published in the journal Nature estimates that over 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Shakti by TELUS is an environmentally-focused reforestation company specializing in site preparation, seed collection, tree sourcing and tree planting. We get the right species in the right zone at the right time, supported by custom-built tools and mapping systems.

Unlock the potential of nature investments for your business. Contact us today.

With climate events becoming more frequent and intense, accelerating forest loss worldwide, purchasing environmental solutions through TELUS is not just an investment in nature; it’s an investment in a sustainable, more resilient future. Partner with us to invest in natural climate solutions and become part of a mission to protect and restore our planet for generations to come. Learn more about our efforts in nature restoration at telus.com/restoration. To book a consultation, contact telusenvironment@telus.com.

Let’s make our planet healthier, together.

The post Investing in nature restoration with TELUS’ environmental solutions offering appeared first on Corporate Knights.

These events are becoming more frequent and more extreme, highlighting the pressing need for individuals and corporations to find solutions to deal with the far-reaching impacts of climate change.

In this time of need, the importance of purpose-driven companies, and the Impact Investing ecosystem that enables them to meet the evolving needs of communities and the planet, is evident. It’s why the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good was created. Launched in 2020 as an extension of TELUS’ global leadership in sustainability and social capitalism, our Pollinator Fund seeks to enable purpose-driven companies with environmental and social solutions to scale up operations and put their ideas into practice, whether by turning waste into useful materials using mushrooms, securing the world’s pollinated food supply with precision beekeeping technology or accelerating reforestation after wildfires using drones.

With an initial commitment of $100 million, we have already invested nearly $40 million into 26 portfolio companies in just two years, as announced in our recently released 2022 Impact Report.

“The Pollinator Fund invests into early-stage, for‐profit companies where impact is baked into the business model. We support tenacious, mission-driven and diverse founders by leveraging TELUS’ broad network”

-Blair  Miller, Managing Partner, TELUS Pollinator Fund

Farming among fruit, nut and timber trees

Our Pollinator Fund harbors an unwavering commitment to encouraging the adoption of low-carbon and zero-waste solutions by investing in some of the most innovative, mission-driven startups. Drawing inspiration from nature’s ability to regenerate, it also actively invests in the creation of circular economy solutions and in sustainable food technologies.

Notable investments include Propagate which offers solutions for regenerative land management practices, promoting soil health, biodiversity, and crop yields through agroforestry.

It all started when Ethan Steinberg, Jeremy Kaufmand and Harry Greene decided to improve the agricultural landscape after recognizing a disconnect between the demand for healthy foods and the lack of accessibility of sustainable farming practices.

CEO and co-founder of Propagate, Steinberg and his team help farmers transition acreage to agroforestry. Concretely, this means integrating fruit, nut and timber trees with animal or crop farming systems. Propagate has planted 140,000 trees to date. Focusing on permanent crops in regenerative agriculture increases soil health and food quality and helps create a more robust food system with farms becoming more resilient to environmental issues.

Agroforestry makes farms resilient to climate change and sequesters more carbon. It also boosts profitability, and the trees create new and diversified income streams for farmers.

– Ethan Steinberg, CEO and co-founder of Propagate

With their solutions, Propagate helps farmers decide which trees to plant and where to plant them. Importantly, they also help farmers secure funding as trees take longer to reach maturity and yield financial benefits. Through our investment in Propagate, we want to help scale agroforestry across millions of acres, and farmers are already seeing notable changes including reduced soil erosion, improved growth of beneficial microbes and fungi and increased biodiversity. Farmers are more efficient and use less resources reducing the carbon footprint.

The time to scale up is now. With TELUS support, we’re confident that we can transform millions of acres of farmland and make them more resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable. 

– Ethan Steinberg, CEO and co-founder of Propagate

Measuring the impact of trees, drones and mushrooms

The Pollinator Fund also invested in Flash Forest, a Canadian reforestation company leveraging drone-based technology to regenerate post-wildfire areas when they are deemed too unsafe to have individuals plant trees by hand. Given that 2023 is on track for one of the worst years for wildfires on record, the need for efficient reforestation practices is more pressing than ever.

Also included in our 2022 impact report is Mycocycle, a natural solution that trains mushrooms to digest waste at a commercial scale and has diverted 15 tons of CO2e or 30,000 pounds of waste through their front-end treatment process. Through our investment, we are helping Mycocycle scale their operations and capabilities so they can process a wider range of waste materials.

With all these powerful impacts achieved by startups, there is an increased demand from companies like Propagate, Flash Forest and Mycocycle to quantify, measure and communicate their concrete outcomes in a meaningful way.

Startups often grapple with understanding how to best measure and communicate their contributions to reducing carbon emissions and other important social or environmental impacts. They don’t always know how to leverage the impact they create into an advantage when meeting with potential investors.

That’s why we have publicly released the Pollinator Impact Navigation Tool, a proprietary open source tool, to help demystify impact management for early-stage startups, share best practices expansion and amplify their impact.

Mycocycle, Flash Forest and Propagate exemplifies the best practices of integrating impact measurement and management into their business model, where business growth aligns with environmental metrics. As an example, Propagate recognizes the equal importance of reporting the level of carbon sequestered or number of trees planted alongside their traditional financial numbers.

For the Pollinator Fund and Propagate, cultivating a viable business means ensuring that revenue generation and impact go hand in hand, ultimately fostering a sustainable future, one tree and one farm at a time.

 ***

The TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good is one of the world’s largest corporate social impact funds, and focuses its investments on for-profit companies and founders committed to driving social innovation. While the Pollinator Fund is still early in its journey, it remains steadfast in its commitment to ethical and sustainable impact investing. To date, it has invested nearly $40 million of its initial $100M investment commitment and is generating promising early results with its portfolio companies realizing 155% revenue growth. This is a clear testament of the startups and Pollinator Fund’s ability to deliver financial returns while generating significant and measurable impact for our planet and the people in greatest need.

Mission-driven startups and partners looking for impact investments can contact TELUS here to learn more.

The post Building a more sustainable future — one bee, one farm, one forest at a time appeared first on Corporate Knights.

This is a global problem, however, to succeed companies, corporations, organizations and governments must work together on innovative solutions. Canada’s green initiatives include everything from companies developing clean energy sources to technology that pulls excess carbon from the atmosphere. While engineers and scientists bring their expertise to the R&D side of the equation, CPAs are creating environments that make innovation possible.

Here are some inspiring stories of CPAs who are driving their organizations towards their net zero, green goals:

Vimali Pathmanathan, Director of Finance, Opus One Solutions, Toronto

Opus One Solutions, a firm that develops software to help energy grids transition to renewables, was acquired by GE Digital in December 2021. Vimali Pathmanathan, Opus One’s director of finance, helped lead the collaboration with GE’s due diligence team. That meant working long hours, weekends and holidays but, for Pathmanathan, leveraging her CPA skills to affect change in real time is part of why she wanted to work in a green-tech start-up.

Pathmanathan spent much of her early career in public accounting; while she enjoyed it, her work was always about taking care of business after the fact. “At Opus One, I always feel like I’m on the frontlines of decision-making. The CEO always says that finance is his right hand. I explore questions like: if we’re going to develop this product line, do we have enough funding? How many people will we need? It’s an exciting way to work.”

Opus One’s software is all about bringing dated grid tech up to speed with clean power. One way to integrate renewables like solar and wind is to transition grids to a distributed model, where they rely on energy sources at several points instead of a single one, like a typical fossil fuel-based power plant. A notable advantage of decentralized grids is their ability to incorporate “behind the meter” (user-side) energy sources like residential solar panels, which in turn encourage individuals and businesses to invest in renewables.

While that’s good news for decarbonization, running a distributed grid is much more complex than a traditional one from a technical perspective. That’s where Opus One comes in. Its flagship GridOS product, which relies on advanced data modelling, allows utility companies to monitor and manage distributed grids for customers like Australian energy company AusNet Services, the U.K.’s SP Energy Networks and, closer to home, Ontario’s Elexicon Energy.

When Pathmanathan applied for the job, she didn’t fully understand Opus One’s mission, but was attracted to the sector’s accelerating growth. Five years in, she’s developed a keen understanding of its technology. “Climate change is impacting everyone. It’s always on my mind,” she says. “I’ve grown with the company and become more committed to its mission in my five years here. What we do here can have a direct impact the planet.”

Greg Twinney, CEO, General Fusion, Burnaby, B.C.

“Despite the financial success and everything else, I felt that there was something missing from my career. I wanted to leave a positive mark on the world,” he says. “When I learned about what General Fusion was doing through a recruiter, I became incredibly attracted to its potential for a massive positive impact outside of just the financial.”

General Fusion’s mission is to provide clean energy to the world with zero emissions and at a cheaper cost than coal. The technology relies on nuclear fusion, where two light atoms fuse to form a single heavier atom, releasing energy as a by-product —not to be confused with nuclear fission, which is the exact reverse of that process and what nuclear power plants currently use.

Fusion research experiments first started the 1930s though first calculations of the rate of nuclear fusion in stars actually started in the 1920s. Scaling it to commercially viable proportions is a monumental engineering challenge—one General Fusion claims to be well on the way to having solved. In 2021, the company announced a public-private partnership for a fusion demonstration plant, which will be operational by 2027.

Twinney sees General Fusion as the culmination of the skills he’s spent a 27-year career acquiring. “From raising capital to scaling up the infrastructure, commercializing and building the right team to do it, these are skills I’ve used before,” he says. “Finance has the unique ability to be the thread that weaves throughout a company and pulls it together. I’ve got a bit of a playbook for executing that and I’m grateful for it because, in my opinion, applying it to General Fusion will dwarf everything I’ve done before.”

The challenge is formidable but, for Twinney, it’s all about the underlying drive. “When you’re taking on a challenge as difficult as commercializing fusion, it really helps to have a deep and meaningful why,” he says. “I often tell investors, there are easier ways to make a buck, but they may not be as rewarding. We’ve been in the labs for a long time, and we’re just now starting to scale up and demonstrate the power of this technology.”

Susan Koch, COO & VP, Carbon Engineering, Vancouver

Green tech start-ups are Susan Koch’s specialty; as a CFO, she’s led companies whose raison d’etre range from electric vehicle fuel cells to nuclear fusion. Now, in her role at a firm that focuses on commercializing carbon capture technology, Koch is making a difference by marrying green tech and accounting.

“It’s an invigorating work environment,” she says. “These companies attract people who want to make a difference. I love working with engineers and scientists, who tend to be bright, curious and have so many interesting ideas.”

Part of Koch’s strength as a finance executive is her eagerness to dig into the science. “At all these jobs, I’ve had to learn about the technical uncertainties and hurdles that need to be overcome to commercialize a technology. That really keeps the job interesting. Eventually, I developed a reasonable understanding that allows me to speak competently about carbon capture or fusion physics to a lawyer or an accountant.”

Carbon capture, she explains, is a sort of industrial tree. Trees (the leaf and bark kind) absorb carbon dioxide as part of their natural role in the carbon cycle, but they can’t keep up with the rate at which humans put carbon into the atmosphere. “Our technology pulls carbon out of the air using what’s called direct air capture (DAC),” she says. “You can do numerous things with the captured carbon, from sequestering it in underground reservoirs to using it to develop cleaner fuel.”

The technology is proven—now, it’s about scaling up to commercial sized plants. Demand depends in part on government policy that’s favourable to clean tech. DAC’s commercial viability in a given jurisdiction is bolstered by climate-forward policies that put a price on CO2 emissions and/or incent the capture of CO2. One good example is a recent addition to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which now awards credits for each metric ton of CO2 removed and permanently sequestered.

That policy and the US federal 45Q tax credit program haves helped commercialize Carbon Engineering’s expansion in the U.S.; in partnership with development company 1PointFive, the firm is working on a massive Permian Basin project in the southern United States that, when complete, is expected to pull a million tons of CO2 from the air each year. Commercial projects are also underway in Canada, the U.K. and other markets around the world.

In the meantime, Koch’s enthusiasm to learn and her passion for the sector is sure to continue bolstering the firm’s plans to grow their technology to a climate-relevant scale.

Start your journey to net zero today!

Learn how you can play a part as a CPA in helping your organization transition towards net zero with these free resources to design your strategy.

CPA Canada has a wealth of sustainability resources and practical guidance , from reports to reviews of net-zero disclosures and details of our own commitment. 

About CPA Canada

Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) is one of the largest national accounting organizations in the world and is a respected voice in the business, government, education, and non-profit sectors. It is a progressive and forward-thinking organization whose members bring a convergence of shared values, diverse business skills and exceptional talents to the accounting field. Domestically, CPA Canada works cooperatively with the provincial and territorial CPA bodies who are charged with regulating the profession. Globally, it works together with the International Federation of Accountants and the Global Accounting Alliance to build a stronger accounting profession worldwide. As one of the world’s largest national accounting bodies, CPA Canada carries a strong influential voice and acts in the public interest.

The post Meet the CPAs using innovation to fight climate change appeared first on Corporate Knights.

It’s hard to know where to begin in making an event more sustainable. Between all the travel, food, accommodations and supplies, events can use a lot of resources, but they don’t need to — that’s where we can help.

Explore Edmonton — the city’s Destination Marketing and Management Organization (DMMO) — has made sustainability a top priority in events. We are looking at events differently from the way we plan, prepare for and deliver an impactful event so we can use less energy and reduce the overall impact our events have on the environment.

It starts with a commitment from the top. Our city has committed to cut Edmonton’s emissions in half by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. As the city’s DMMO, our role is to deliver on this commitment as it relates to business events and conferences in Edmonton at the two world-class, large-scale venues we manage. To underscore this important work, we have signed the Joint Meetings Industry Council’s Net Zero Carbon Events pledge and shifted our priority in events to sustainability. But these promises are just the first step.

It’s important to point out that as a DMMO (or DMO in other cities), we are a step ahead — we don’t just market, we manage events in our city. This means we have a role in both the operations of city-owned venues as well as filling them with happy guests. This gives us a leg up in knowing what people want in their events through our marketing work, and subsequently, being able to actually meet those needs (instead of just saying what people want to hear).

Overwhelmingly, event goers want events to be sustainable, which is why we are making this our priority. Unlike many other DMOs, we have a dedicated sustainability team. That means we have a team of experts ready to support and walk event planners from around the world through every aspect of their event to make it more sustainable.

Our work doesn’t stop there. Edmonton is the second sunniest city in Canada with an average of 2,344 hours and 325 days of bright sunshine a year, and we are taking full advantage. One of our venues — the Edmonton Convention Centre (ECC) — is home to Canada’s largest building-integrated solar photovoltaic roof. This means we are producing our own clean, renewable energy on top of our signature glass roof as the sun shines through. This creates about 227,000 kilowatts of solar energy every year — enough to power about 31 average homes. Atop our other venue — the Edmonton EXPO Centre — the installation of the largest urban rooftop solar array in Canada is nearly complete. It’s expected to produce 2.8 gigawatts of solar energy annually, equivalent to about 375 homes, or about one third of the venue’s annual energy consumption.

Inside these venues, we are taking steps to reduce and offset our carbon output. This is exactly why we have partnered with Ostrom Climate, one of the largest and most experienced full-service, carbon management teams in North America to measure and offset event carbon footprints through our Carbon Neutral Events program. Through this program, our Sustainability team provides complimentary consulting and guidance to both reduce carbon emissions at events and offset the unavoidable emissions.

All of this work is putting us on the map across the globe. On September 27 — World Tourism Day — an international docuseries, Sustainable Travel: Where Next?, was released highlighting leaders and influencers in sustainable travel and tourism and how they’re protecting their destinations. The series features initiatives in cities around the world from Norway to Australia to the Caribbean, and of course, right here in Edmonton.

Watch the Edmonton episode and discover how we’re making events in Edmonton more sustainable on our website here.

We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished so far, but we also know there’s a lot more work to do. Up to now, we have hosted six carbon-neutral events at venues across Edmonton with another nine planned in 2022 and 2023. While each is a significant step, our collective goal has to be to make this the expectation. Net zero events are possible — we’re well on our way there, but we can’t let up.

Our promise is to keep building on the work we’ve done and to partner with others around the world who want to take meaningful steps and be part of the much needed change. It’s time we all started thinking differently because the impact we can have together is real.

Explore Edmonton

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Innovation has propelled humankind forward for centuries. But how we see innovators and innovation has evolved. The focus or ‘lens’ we put around innovation will determine where we put our funding, our ideas, our energy – and whether or not these resources will be trained on some of the great issues of our time.

In the early days of innovation as we know it, the focus was on the innovator, the ‘hero’, and the power of innovation. Over time this focus has evolved. Those seeking to support, grow and ‘do’ innovation have focused on the type, scale, process, contexts and direction of innovation.

Now we’re seeing a return of focus on the IMPACT of the innovation. ‘Mission’ or ‘Challenge’-led innovation, which is growing in popularity, focuses on systems transformation and addressing the grand challenges of our time instead of simply creating innovation heroes and increasing the wealth of the few.

This framing of your innovation is particularly important context when you’re thinking about the conditions and ecosystem that will best support innovation towards ending ‘wicked’ problems like climate change, biodiversity loss or inequality.

11 Conditions to support Innovation for Impact

Now that you’re thinking about innovating towards some of the grand challenges of our time, examine how many of these key contextual conditions you have in place.

Generally, the view is the more of these conditions that are evident and the more robust they are, the more effective your enabling ecosystem will be.

These are often less-tangible factors, but no less important in making innovation ‘work’.

1. Purpose: A goal or challenge that guides vision and innovation can help to reduce barriers, galvanise focus and attract resource.
2. Capacity to Experiment: Capacity, support and mandate to experiment, test, protype and iterate.
3. Appetite for Change: Openness and appetite for change and learning, plus tenacity to make it happen.
4. Learning is Valued: Inquiry, learning and risk taking is valued and appreciated and a culture of safe-to-fail supports this.
5. Autonomy and Constraints: A balance of autonomy to develop ideas, and enabling constraints that support innovation are present.
6. Access to Tools and Skills: Access to a diversity of tools plus the skills, training and capability needed to use them to maximum effect.
7. Diverse Perspectives: Diversity of stakeholders and inputs and exposure to diverse perspectives are encouraged and celebrated.
8. Collaborative and Flexible Spaces: Opportunities for collaboration through flexible spaces, places or platforms.
9. Robust Feedback: Access to regular, robust and relevant feedback and the capability and capacity to give and receive such feedback.
10. Right Resources: Right amount and right timing of resources (capital, investment, human resources) over the course of the innovation process.
11. Access to Prior Learning: Access to learnings about what has worked previously, what hasn’t, and a willingness to learn the lessons.

There can be a temptation to think you need the full set of these conditions, but that’s not the case. Think about which combination you could cultivate that might suit your context. It’s also important to acknowledge that mindsets and cultural conditions like these develop over time, experimentation is key, and they require intentional work.

11 Elements of an Impact Innovation Ecosystem

When you’re confident there are enough enabling conditions in place, it’s time to turn your attention to tangible initiatives and infrastructure elements that can support and enable innovation for impact.

While you’ll see a couple of overlaps with the above conditions – when thinking about the conditions we need, the access issues are highlighted – here we’re focusing on the infrastructure itself.

1. Research and Impact Evaluation: Competitive and prosperous industries and economies invest in research, benchmarking and impact measurement. This helps to improve what we do and how we do it, enables learning, and sharing of what impact the innovation process itself has, and what impact the innovative product, service or process has, as it is implemented.
2. Co-working, Design and Working Spaces: Spaces where people and/or organisations can work together enable exchange of ideas, and also shared services, sharing of equipment, and easier access to available services and supports.
3. Technical Advice, Support and Training: On-the-job advice, support and training designed by and for impact innovators – focusing on both process and the business of innovation: how to deepen impact, grow viability and ensure sustainability. This can involve bespoke capability building, mentoring, coaching and/or training.
4. Market Development Opportunities: Sometimes particular interventions need to happen for markets to develop or grow (e.g. impact procurement has enabled social and environmental outcomes to be included in decision-making about procurement contracts). This in turn can support and direct innovation towards deeper impacts.
5. Finance, Investment and Funding: Impact innovation requires a range of different forms of investment funding and finance. The ‘right type’ depends on the size, risk, profit, potential and stage of development. More diverse and varied financial options could support broader and deeper impact innovation ecosystems.
6. Labs and Spaces to Experiment: Labs engage diverse groups of people to intentionally test, innovate and learn how we might address specific social, economic or environmental challenges. They are experimental in their approach to tackling issues, and they seek to test solutions that are practical, and applied to real-life.
7. Formal Education Opportunities: Formal education offered in institutions like universities or colleges can provide education for impact innovators and for other stakeholders helping build the conditions for a thriving and healthy impact ecosystem. Ongoing education can underpin rigour and development of impact across an ecosystem.
8. Networks and Networking Opportunities: Networks can open opportunities and help impact innovators to connect with peers, experts, mentors and partners. Networking can happen through events, communities of practice, online social networking platforms or impact-focused intermediaries.
9. Policy and Government Support: Policies that encourage and promote impact innovation can help catalyse, grow and spread solutions. Policy can support market development, encourage further innovation, remove barriers, offer funding at critical points, or enable new legal forms or investment pathways. Government can also help to implement and spread impact innovations.
10. Appropriate Legal Structures and Supports: New enterprises, organisations or initiatives that result from impact innovation often have to adopt a specific legal form. This provides rules for their operations and protects their mission. It can also enable tax deductibility or credits. Often advice is needed to make decisions about the most appropriate form to achieve particular objectives.
11. Incubators and Accelerators: Programs and processes (and sometimes spaces) that can help support and accelerate the development, spread and growth of impact innovation. Incubators connect innovators to specialized supports, and accelerators link innovators to networks, investors and opportunities for deeper impact and growth.

Once again, it’s not a requirement to have all of this in your impact innovation ecosystem. We suggest a useful way of thinking about the elements is as different entry points for enabling work, each of which can be built on over time and through the efforts of different actors within an ecosystem. The elements can be engaged with together or separately, in different combinations, and with ‘back-and-forth’ between — as suits different contexts and the resources available at the time. In other words, do not be deterred from starting where you are!

About the author

Ingrid Burkett is an MBA Professor at Griffith University and the Co-Director of The Yunus Centre, Griffith University’s Impact Innovation Centre, which is dedicated to accelerating transitions to regenerative and distributive economies.

To connect with Ingrid or see more about her work, visit Ingrid’s LinkedIn page. 

More business leadership resources

Innovation for Impact is one of the subjects taught in the Griffith MBA. Ranked as the world’s #1 most sustainable MBA, the Griffith University MBA has been successfully developing leaders like no others for over a decade. Leaders who use their skills, experience and integrity to shape a better world, both personally and professionally.   

Find out more about responsible leadership and the Griffith MBA at griffith.edu.au/mba 

And for more articles on navigating change and creating positive, regenerative impact, visit the Griffith University Y Impact blog.

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A critical challenge associated with the SDGs as aspirational global instruments is to effectively translate and transpose the abstract language of the goals into practical, granular guidance. While the SDG targets and indicators help focus the action, they are silent on what methods and approaches may be used. That poses a challenge for many organizations as they try to find an effective way to incorporate the SDGs into their policies, programs, and operations. Standards bodies such as CSA Group seem well positioned to assist with this challenge.

How do standards support the SDGs?

Unlike the aspirational formulation of the SDGs, standards are typically detailed, technical documents for which actions can be objectively measured and benchmarked. Thus, standards – if they assist in achieving the goals enshrined in the SDGs – can help provide complete, concise, controllable, measurable, and understandable characteristics. This approach infers that organizations could take actions to support the SDGs by complying with the requirements and recommendations of standards, whether voluntary or incorporated by reference in regulations.

How are standards connected to the SDGs?

The links between Standards and the SDGs are not always self-evident. In the past, standards were not developed with the SDGs in mind and, therefore, do not directly outline how the technical guidance of standards matches the intended measurable outcomes of the SDGs.

CSA Group conducted a preliminary assessment of its standards, confirming that 80% of CSA standards support at least one SDG. The preliminary assessment led to a comprehensive multi-disciplinary research project with the goal of developing a robust and transparent methodology for mapping standards to the SDGs at the target and indicator levels. Using such a methodology to validate any standard-SDG links can provide organizations, governments, policy-makers, and the public with reliable and transparent information and help strengthen their confidence in standards as instruments supporting the achievement of SDG-related objectives.

To demonstrate the linkages of standards and the SDG targets and indicators, let’s look at a few examples

Moderating the effects of permafrost degradation

CSA S501:14 (R2019), Moderating the Effects of Permafrost Degradation on Existing Building Foundation, is part of a suite of eleven CSA standards and guidelines that address the threat of climate change in Northern communities. It encourages best practices of building maintenance and design that could preserve permafrost and prevent the loss of critical infrastructure in Northern Canada due to permafrost collapse.

The CSA S501:14 (R2019) requirements and recommendations focus on permafrost preservation, directly supporting climate change resilience and contributing to climate change adaptation in Northern Communities. With this specific scope and focus, it is clear that this Standard directly supports SDG 13, Climate Action, and, more specifically, SDG target 13.1 – Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.

While CSA S501:14 (R2019) is primarily intended for use by engineers and architects, it also provides plain-language descriptions of permafrost loss, impacts, and best practices to protect it. These can be utilized by educators, the general public, and other groups to build community knowledge of this subject area. This further supports SDG target 13.3 – Improve education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.

The CSA S501:14 spotlight study further outlines how the Standard supports the targets of SDG 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Durability in buildings

The Standard CSA S478:19, Durability in buildings, aims to help increase the durability of buildings and building sustainability by providing users with direction and requirements on which materials to use to satisfy environmental or design factors that impact durability.

CSA S478:19 is relevant to climate change because it directly considers how buildings impact the environment and how the environment impacts the durability of buildings. At the same time, it also emulates the key components of SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, specifically target 9.1 – Develop quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.

The CSA S478:19 spotlight study provides more insights on how the Standard can help promote sustainable practices and their implementation within the building industry.

The Canadian Electrical Code

The Canadian Electrical Code, Part I, has been in use across Canada for almost 100 years. Helping ensure the safety of electrical installations, the Code is referenced in provincial and territorial legislation and the National Building Code of Canada.

The latest 2021 edition of the Code introduced substantial changes to facilitate sustainability and address climate resilience. New and updated sections focused on renewable energy sources, such as solar photovoltaic installations and wind-generated electricity, and new requirements for electric vehicles, home-based vehicle charging stations, and energy storage systems. While the Code does not require professionals to install certain low carbon, sustainable, or efficient technologies, it can play an important role in promoting efficiency and sustainability by continuously adding the requirements necessary for the safe installation of those technologies as they become marketable. This helps legitimize these emerging technologies and make them accessible to a greater population, thereby supporting the targets of SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, such as:

• 1 – By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services
• 3- By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

The Canadian Electrical Code, Part I spotlight study further outlines how the Code supports the targets of SDG 9, Industry, Innovation, and infrastructure, and SDG 13, Climate Action. In total, a further 55 suggested resilience-related changes were updated in the 2021 edition of the code. Simple changes such as moving electrical receptacle installations from 2 feet off basement floors to 4 feet off floor level are improving resilience for all in Canada.

SDG-related priorities for future standards development

The SDGs have emerged as important and innovative instruments galvanizing governments, businesses, and civil society towards the achievement of a sustainable future. CSA Group’s research project and mapping work ultimately found that standards can provide foundational support to organizations and governments to assist them in meeting their SDGs objectives. CSA Group’s work focused on identifying and building linkages between standards use and the SDGs is an important part of a roadmap toward achieving the goals of the UN 2030 agenda.

CSA Group is now continuing efforts to better integrate SDG considerations into its current and future standards development and to educate stakeholders and the general public about the important role standards can play in achieving the SDGs. The newly launched CSA Group website provides additional resources, including a searchable database of CSA Standards and their links to specific SDG targets they support. This resource is just the beginning.

It is, however, important to note that while many standards explicitly support SDG targets such as climate resilience, it is recognized that not all standards link to SDGs. Standards users should always take care and be specific when claiming their support of SDGs through the use of standards. The tools and resources made available by CSA Group as a part of this project are intended to assist users in their evaluation of the degree the application of a standard leads to material changes and SDG achievement.

Disclaimer:

CSA Group always strives to provide up-to-date and accurate information. However, no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made that this information meets your specific needs, and any reliance on this information is at your own risk. Please contact CSA Group for more information about our services.

© 2022 Canadian Standards Association. All Rights Reserved.

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