On the final day of GLOBE Forum, attendees had a hands-on opportunity to shape the clean economy through our first ever GLOBE Advance. Participants chose from six different session topics and then worked with experts to deliver action plans and other influential outcomes related to the topic. 

Our hope is that GLOBE Advance will help us go farther and faster when it comes to addressing risks and capitalizing on opportunities in the clean economy. Read on for a summary of each session, preliminary outcomes, and ways you can get involved.

Partnerships to Achieve Deep GHG Reductions in Transportation

Sponsored by: Canadian Gas Association and Global Automakers of Canada

Achieving deep GHG reductions in the transportation sector will require a multi-pronged approach across modes and technologies, and multi-stakeholder action and collaboration. Building on the transportation-related discussions at GLOBE—and including brief presentations by the City of Toronto, Enbridge, FortisBC and the Global Automakers of Canada—this session engaged representatives from government, transportation companies, alternative fuel providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other industry members. It explored how stakeholders can come together to achieve big results, with a focus on (1) identifying key success factors for partnerships, and (2) articulating how these partnerships need to be supported by public and private sector decision-makers.

Main Topics: 

Speakers from the City of Toronto, Enbridge, FortisBC and the Global Automakers of Canada shared examples of best practices in GHG reductions. The participants discussed:

• Types of collaboration required across all fuels (natural gas, renewable natural gas, hydrogen, electricity, biofuels etc.) in the movement of people and goods
• Transportation-related GHG reduction goals and how partnerships could address challenges in achieving these goals
• Key success factors for partnerships
• Public and private sector roles in supporting partnerships and key messages to decision-makers

Outcomes:  

Participants identified a number of success factors for partnerships including mutual benefit, trust, the need for leaders within each organization and clear goals and outcomes. They made connections between the roles of the public and private sectors: for example, the private sector provides delivery, execution and long-term stability for initiatives, which is supported by policy certainty from the public sector to assist in long-term commitments. Decision-makers within the public sector should look for opportunities to incentivize partnerships, such as through program or incentive delivery. Decision-makers within the private sector should understand that partnerships need space to build trust and make mistakes while pursuing mutual goals.

A summary report will be made available in the future.

Delivered by: Pollution Probe and The Delphi Group

For more information or to get involved, contact Joe Rogers, Senior Director at The Delphi Group (jrogers@delphi.ca, 613-562-2005 x 222) or Steve McCauley, Senior Director at Pollution Probe (smccauley@pollutionprobe.org, 416 926 1907 x 252).

Taking the Fossil out of Fossil Fuels: Defining Hydrocarbons’ Role for Future Fitness

Sponsored by: Enbridge, Suncor, and WestJet

In an effort to get past rhetoric around the role of hydrocarbons in energy transformation, participants explored possible criteria for hydrocarbon resources to be considered part of a sustainable, future-fit energy system.  After a high-level overview of the Future-Fit Break-Even goals, breakout groups discussed and generated ideas for specific criteria that could be used to align hydrocarbon development with future fitness.

Main Topics:

• Polarized rhetoric on energy transformation
• The Energy Futures Lab
• Future Fit Break-Even Goals
• Opportunities for hydrocarbon development that promote future fitness and support energy transformation.

Outcomes:

Each breakout group presented 3-5 high-level ideas for criteria. We then grouped the content into similar themes, including life cycle impacts, economic prosperity, and community and environmental health. Organizers are currently distilling this content into a preliminary report for participants and we will continue to iterate on the recommendations March through June 2020. Additional feedback sessions are being considered at other conferences and events through the spring.

Delivered by: EFL and The Delphi Group

For more information or to get involved, contact Matt Beck, Director at The Delphi Group (mbeck@delphi.ca 1.403.805.8200).

Advancing a Circular Economy in Canada: Tackling the Barriers Sector by Sector to Move the Dial

Sponsored by: Government of Canada and Canadian Tire

In partnership with the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition, the Circular Economy Advance session was designed as an important stepping stone towards the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) in Toronto (Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2020).

The workshop explored the need for and current state of transition to a circular economy (CE) in specific sectors; identified key areas of challenge and opportunity as relates to sector-level transition to a CE; and clarified areas of overlap and interdependencies between CE-relevant sector challenges and opportunities.

Through small and large group discussions, augmented by expert resources (including the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Sitra, and Partnership for Accelerating the Circular Economy), nearly 100 workshop participants generated sector-relevant opportunities and barriers that could be (1) brought forward as potential foundations for industry roadmaps, and (2) incorporated into discussions taking place at the WCEF 2020.

Main Topics:

• Policy-makers, investors, private sector executive and operational leaders from a variety of sectors and industries explored the barriers and opportunities for important sectors including: food systems, forestry and bioeconomy, oil and gas, construction/built environment, textiles, and plastics production and supply chain.
• Cross-sector barriers and enablers were explored across four thematic areas: systems, culture, trends, and policy.
• Special breakout discussions also explored the role of education as part of the transition to a more circular economy, as well as the opportunities for creating more circular cities.

Outcomes:

• The information shared in the workshop was distilled into a set of key areas for focus to move the dial on a transition to a CE in Canada in multiple sectors and areas for further collaborative exploration and effort.
• Table and group discussions, as well as voting results, were collated into a high-level session report.
• Barriers and enablers that were identified by the group are listed in the figures below.
• Check out the summary report here. 

Delivered by: The Natural Step and The Delphi Group

For more information or to get involved, contact Paul Shorthouse, Senior Director at The Delphi Group (pshorthouse@delphi.ca 1.250.412.1863 X 601).

Scaling Up the Blue Economy: A Domestic and International Roadmap (in partnership with the Ocean Partnership Summit)

This Advance session explored the nature of the value that oceans create and a number of the challenges that oceans face as well as financial mechanisms available to deploy in ocean-based initiatives. The blue economy discussion touched on the ‘best fit’ for domestic and international expansion based on best practices deployed to date. Then, the discussion moved to priorities for deployment (e.g., shoreline resilience, blue carbon) as well as the scale and timing for advancing investment interest. Participants also considered actions that could advance ocean and inland water investment within Canada and at a global scale.

Main Topics:

• The trillions of dollars in services supplied by oceans and waterways are at risk and the value of these services may be diminished.
• Canada has unique features through its expansive shorelines and in-land seas and waterways that should position us globally as a leader in the blue economy.
• Technology, innovation and investment in the blue economy to address challenges is in its infancy e.g., blue bond activity is dwarfed by green bond activity, much greater scale for land deployment.
• There are many uncertainties and limited knowledge associated with ocean investment that need to be addressed if capital is to flow.
• There is urgency to address the gaps and scale of ocean innovation and investment as our oceans are in desperate need of solutions.

Outcomes:

• Since this is early days, participants were interested in GLOBE creating a platform for information exchange and continued dialogue.
• GLOBE was encouraged to build a blue economy discussion into GLOBE Capital with a focus on the Great Lakes and case studies on the returns associated with GL investments.
• GLOBE should track and pursue the blue economy discussion at COP26.
• There was interest among the investment community at the session to launch a blue investment vehicle.
• Public education on the issues and the need for solutions is needed.

For more information or to get involved, contact Bruce Dudley, Senior Vice President at The Delphi Group (bdudley@delphi.ca).

Turning Social Purpose Dialogue and Vision into Action (in Collaboration with the Social Purpose Institute)

The Social Purpose Advance session prioritized five accelerator topics as most likely and necessary to drive social purpose progress in Canada and beyond, including engaging corporate leadership, creating an enabling ecosystem, fostering social purpose in procurement, integrating social purpose business in K-12 and post-secondary education, and mobilizing industry and professional associations to become social purpose and foster social purpose among their membership. For each of these topics, participants identified an aspirational future vision by 2030, starting actions to advance on the vision by 2022, and personal and organizational steps to pursue right away.

Main Topics:

• Creating the Ecosystem: Engaging key actors to create an enabling ecosystem to accelerate social purpose.
• Corporate Leadership: Engaging investors/shareholders, corporate boards and executives in oversight and pursuit of social purpose.
• Procurement: Engaging procurement and supply chain managers in buying from social purpose companies.
• Post-Secondary Education: Engaging post-secondary business schools to educate about social purpose in business.
• Associations: Engaging industry and professional associations in advancing social purpose through their memberships/capacity building.

Outcomes:

The Social Purpose Institute (SPI) will summarize and distribute the Social Purpose Action Agenda to workshop participants and its followers. The SPI and GLOBE will collaborate in sharing the Agenda to a broader Canadian and global audience. Workshop participants will be asked to advance initiatives in their mandates. The SPI will convene a Social Purpose Conference in 2021 to which the social purpose business community and ecosystem enablers will be invited to further the work. The SPI and GLOBE will report out success on these initiatives at GLOBE 2022. By 2022 it is expected that at a minimum the following will advance:

• More companies will be adopting and implementing a social purpose.
• A network of social purpose businesses will be created.
• Case studies of social purpose business will be developed and shared.
• More boards will be providing oversight of social purpose.
• Some post-secondary institutions will be including social purpose in their curricula.
• 3–4 business associations will be helping their members learn about social purpose in business.
• The social purpose business ecosystem in Canada will be mapped and gaps identified.
• At least one local ecosystem to foster social purpose in business will be created as a template that could be scaled across Canada.

For more information or to get involved, contact MaryEllenS@uwlm.ca, or go to www.socialpurpose.ca. 

Scaling Cleantech: What’s Next for Canada?

Sponsored by: CMC Research Institutes, Foresight, RBC

This session brought together more than 80 participants from across the Canadian clean technology ecosystem including government agencies, banks and funding institutions,  accelerator programs, industry, and technology developers. MaRS Data Catalyst presented on trends within Canada’s cleantech sector, after which participants shared their own insights. A fireside chat with three Canadian cleantech companies (Axine Water Technologies, Mangrove Water Technologies, and Terramera) offered different perspectives on the unique challenges and barriers facing scale-up companies. During group discussions, participants explored how to consider their own networks and spheres of influence, as well as the commitments they could make to scale cleantech in Canada.

Main Topics:

• An overview of the current state of Canada’s pureplay cleantech sector, provided by MaRS Data Catalyst
• Insights and lessons learned from non-pure play technology development (i.e. in-house technology development by industry)
• Challenges in scaling technologies and companies, as well as exporting barriers
• Solutions to accelerate the path to commercialization
• Actionable commitments by attendees to deliver impact

Personal/Organizational Commitments Shared by Participants:

• Increasing data/information sharing with stakeholders and partners
• Getting educated on the cleantech ecosystem and available financing programs
• Educating others (e.g. friends, family) by sharing entrepreneurial and cleantech success stories
• Providing mentorship to entrepreneurs
• Providing training and funding programs for entrepreneurs
• Building relationships and partnerships with like-minded organizations, while promoting broad ecosystem collaboration
• Measuring action by creating an accountability structure
• Working to better understand the needs of entrepreneurs
• Leading by adoption and inspiring through action
• Driving organizational change by linking performance goals to cleantech development
• Promoting the value – economically, environmentally, and socially – of Canadian cleantech
• Incorporating diverse perspectives in clean technology discussions

A summary report will be made available in the future with additional outcomes.

Delivered by: Emissions Reduction Alberta, GLOBE Series and The Delphi Group

For more information or to get involved, contact Carol-Ann Brown, Vice President Innovation and Cleantech at The Delphi Group (cabrown@delphi.ca) and Kristine O’Rielly, Cleantech Consultant at The Delphi Group (korielly@delphi.ca).

On Feb. 11 and 12, 2020 at the Innovation Showcase, over 100 exhibitors in five different clusters and 12 pavilions brought us the latest and greatest in cleantech and the green economy. In addition, exhibitors and experts from the GLOBE community delivered insightful presentations on the Invest in Canada Stage.

Read on for the key takeaways from a few select Innovation Showcase sessions.

By Kate Chisholm, Q.C., Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer, Capital Power

The world as we know it is on the brink of transformation —the urgent need to impede climate change is challenging all of us to adapt our lifestyles, be more innovative, and collaborate thoughtfully to build a more future-focused, and ultimately sustainable, future. The energy industry is working at the forefront of this complex challenge. It is leading the charge to alter our energy system so that it delivers sustainable energy for generations to come.

An Industry in Flux

Climate change is perhaps the most critical challenge of our time. It’s been a key driver of change and transformation in the energy industry for more than a decade.

Holistic transformation of our energy systems requires an “all-of-the-above” solution from our industry—one that maximally expands our use of renewable energy, employs storage technologies to optimize those renewable sources and transitions away from coal by focusing on lower- and zero-carbon thermal back-up sources, by continually improving their efficiency and emissions performance and by investing in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies.

This approach will position our global energy community to meet our mid-century decarbonization target while ensuring affordable and reliable power for all. It can also help address some of the opportunities and challenges we’ll face along the way to achieving a decarbonized world by 2050, including:

• Resource allocation: Every region is unique in its natural resource endowment and its resulting accessibility to different types of renewable and thermal energy. Some jurisdictions (like Alberta, where I’m from) aren’t blessed with abundant hydro and haven’t invested in nuclear, so must therefore turn to other energy sources to keep the lights on and homes warm in winter.
• Reliability: The intermittency of renewables like wind (which can generally be relied upon to generate power only 30 to 40% of the time) and solar (which only generates power during the day) requires them to have back-up at night and during all hours when the wind isn’t blowing.
• Flexibility: Because we only want to use this back up intermittently, we want it to be reliably available whenever we need it, but we don’t want it to cost very much. We also want it to be flexible enough to turn on instantaneously whenever a sudden need arises. Natural gas alone fulfills these needs right now.
• Storage: People are working very hard to improve the technology, however batteries are currently only capable of storing power for hours, not yet for days or weeks, as can sometimes be needed in the dead of winter. In areas that lack hydro, only natural gas can do this, too.
• Carbon economy: We are already capturing and storing carbon from large emitters, and we’re starting to convert captured carbon into valuable products that can be sold to offset the cost of capture. Really smart people are working very hard to prove this process at commercial scale, and to commercialize and proliferate the carbon products. Once a market for these products has fully developed, we’ll be able to use the resulting revenue to build plants that capture carbon right out of the air!
• Unpredictability: Even scientists and engineers don’t yet know which disruptive technology— long-term batteries or carbon conversion— will be readily available first but both technologies will ultimately serve important and complementary purposes in our fight against climate change.

These variables explain why the world needs an “all-of-the-above” solution to conquer climate change; we need to take a multi-pronged approach to energy transformation and implement all of the tools at our disposal to meet the global goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

2050: A Future Built Together

The climate crisis is a complex global problem, but we absolutely can solve it together. As we move toward broad electrification, we’ll need “all-hands-on-deck” to expand supply in a way that maintains reliability and affordability while also reducing emissions.  For this to happen, we really need to stop as a zero-sum game. The current polarization between those who would rush the world off fossil fuels and those who seek to reduce emissions from the use of fossil fuels is a costly distraction.  In order to create the future we want for our children and grandchildren as fast as possible, we need to use every tool, technology and innovation within our reach. As a global community of engaged industry players, governments and citizens, we need partnership, not hostility.

GLOBE 2020 will provide an important opportunity for sustainability players across sectors and jurisdictions to gather, engage and strategize on solutions to mitigate the climate crisis facing our world. I hope you’ll join me in the carbon conversion conversation taking place at the GLOBE 2020 panel “A Tale of Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges in the CCUS Ecosystem” in February. At Capital Power, we’re passionately committed to doing our part in this transformation to a low-carbon future.

Let’s talk. Let’s work together toward our common goal.