WELCOME TO THE ADEC INNOVATIONS BLOG

When you pass through your local grocery store and go to the seafood counter, it is often easy to disregard the source of your seafood choice. However, choosing a seafood that is sourced from a sustainable catch method can affect demand and improve depleted fishery stocks.

After too many complaints about an overheated sleep under a duvet, especially in a hotel where the duvet guarantees the worst sleep ever from being too hot with it and then too cold without it, this became an opportunity to conserve energy. I saved more than 25% on heating costs from the same time last February by fine-tuning the programmable thermostat using the duvet as a guide.

Renewable energy is a growing component of the world’s energy mix. Increasing and expanding the use of that renewable capacity can decrease our reliance on natural resources and fossil fuels, creating a sustainable energy model. How then can we meet this challenge of turning renewable energy into sustainable energy?

On Tuesday, April 24th, ADEC Innovations hosted a webinar to update companies on the changes to CDP’s 2018 Climate Change Questionnaire. CDP, a non-profit initiative founded in 2000, has worked with corporate and government partners to build the most comprehensive collection of self-reported environmental data in the world. One fifth of global carbon emissions are managed through CDP, with over 5,500 companies responding to their questionnaire annually.

An estimated 4 billion people—equivalent to approximately 54 percent of the world’s overall population—reside in cities. The global urban population is projected to escalate to 66 percent by 2050. The UN, however, claims that the current rise in the cities' population  is unsustainable. Many cities do not have enough resources to sustain the projected population growth. Cities experience sustainability issues such as pollution, public health problems, overcrowding and social instability. These issues can lead to resource depletion and potentially low worker productivity, which can cause greater inefficiencies within cities that impact productivity.

CDP performance is one of the key indicators of a sustainable business, helping to evaluate the impact companies have on climate change. Investors and customers consider a business’ CDP performance to be a good indicator of its sustainability. CDP’s rankings measure transparency of climate change impacts, as well as the efforts taken to mitigate and reduce those negative impacts. The CDP Climate Change Questionnaire focuses on how businesses incorporate climate change risk analysis into planning, strategy, risk, and opportunities reporting. Disclosing an organization’s sustainability efforts, such as improving climate change impacts, as a part of its core business strategies can improve its CDP performance.

The terms “renewable energy” and “sustainable energy” are often interchanged. However, their meanings are actually different. Renewable energy is defined as “[energy] produced using natural resources that are constantly replaced and never run out.” This includes, but is not limited to, solar energy, hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal, ocean energy, and wind energy. Sustainable energy refers to “[energy that] meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Since Ontario started its cap and trade program on January 1, 2017, it has generated CAD$2.4 billion dollars in revenue for the province in 5 auctions - money allocated for carbon reducing projects. But, what about the downside? From what I can see, there is very little, but it still needs to be addressed.

Current World Progress on Sustainable Development Goals Reporting

Many businesses are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the 2017 United Nations Global Compact Progress Report, 75 percent of firms report that they “are taking action on the [SDGs].” Approximately 69 percent of CEOs take part in the creation and monitoring of sustainable development strategies and policies. The top five SDGs that companies focus on are Goal 8 (Good Jobs and Economic Growth), Goal 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption).