the green edition
May 2011
sustainability Future friendly New regulations that aim to reduce carbon footprints down the road could mean more business for Frogbox’s Doug Burgoyne Hydro helpers Energy-managers like Darren Parachoniak cut carbon footprints to reduce costs
Scrap dealers Councillor Andrea Reimer hoping new city bylaws will reduce residential waste
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september
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in v e s t m e nt d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1 P H I L A N T H R O P Y m a r c h 2 0 1 2 pro f ita b ility
Risky business Susan Todd translates sound carbon management into good risk management
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2 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Calculated edge
THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
When it comes to green, the discussion has moved beyond the question, “Is there a business case?” We’re now at the point where we just say, “OK, how do we do it?” This year’s Green Edition tackles the issue of metrics that matter, from how to find a reliable carbon calculator to how to include carbon accounting in integrated reporting. Join our Green Breakfast speakers Doug Burgoyne of Frogbox, Darcy Dobell of the World Wildlife Fund and Charlene Easton of Ernst & Young as they tackle the issues of the day. Tuesday, June 7, 2011, at the SFU Segal School of Business, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver. Visit www.biv.com/colour.
Emerging software brings ease, credibility to carbon footprint calculation
– Baila Lazarus, news features editor, Business in Vancouver
Contents 4 Waste not
BC Hydro helps companies reduce costs with its energy manager programs City bylaws fuel residential waste reduction and composting businesses
8 Put your money on green
Socially responsible investing rapidly tipping into mainstream consciousness
10 Power-full regulations
Clean-energy producers puzzling over political and regulatory realities
12 Getting the perfect pitch
Green-tech companies endure business boot camp in preparation for Silicon Valley
14 Future focused
Extended producer responsibility means better green strategies now
16 Carbon accountability
SMEs face new pressures to measure and reduce their environmental impact
18 Beyond Oprah’s ice cream
Growing City team reflects on how smaller offices can make big changes
Business in Vancouver 102 East Fourth Avenue Vancouver, BC V5T 1G2 P: 604.688.2398 F: 604.688.1963 E: info@biv.com Publications Mail Agreement No: 40069240. Registration No: 8876. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Department: 102 East Fourth Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5T 1G2. E-mail: subscribe@biv.com
Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
Dominic Schaefer
6 Litter of the law
Gobi Carbon Management Solutions co-founder Joe Kelly with Vancouver Aquarium sustainability manager Tara Schaufele. Schaufele says that using Gobi’s software helps the Aquarium live out its mission to conserve all aquatic species
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Jenny Wagler
As customers, investors and employees begin to scrutinize companies’ sustainability and carbon-management practices, small and medium-sized businesses have a new tool to achieve their carbon goals: carbon footprint management software. While a plethora of free carbon-footprint calculators exists online, software is beginning to emerge that brings the credibility of international standards to carbon calculations. A local leader in the field is Surrey-based Gobi Carbon Management Solutions Inc., which last summer launched its GobiSOFT carbon-management software. The online tool allows small and medium-sized businesses to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions. To use it, companies enter their emissions information from utility and fuel bills, travel records and waste and recycling information; the software then generates reports and charts that analyze energy consumed, emissions produced and the cost of the company’s environmental impact. Gobi co-founder Joe Kelly said credibility is the key difference separating Gobi’s software from free online carbon calculators and motivating businesses to pay the licensing fee, which ranges from $350 to $1,400, depending on the number of business units a comPrinted on a waterless digital offset press
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Business in Vancouver May 2011
pany operates. “You might find some sort of carbon calculator online and who knows what kind of data’s been used and what’s driving it,” he said, noting that companies may see “amazing” variations between the emission results these free calculators produce, given the variety of undisclosed approaches and methodologies used. “Whereas one’s reporting your footprint is 1/2T to [fly] from Vancouver to Toronto, others might be saying it’s 2T,” he commented. Kelly, who holds a PhD in resource and environmental management from Simon Fraser University, said GobiSOFT complies with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidelines published by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. “It’s based on very comprehensive and rigorous research, published data sources and we’re using the best, latest data that’s out there,” he said. He added that Gobi is continuing to finesse the software further to incorporate new developments in the field of carbon management. For example, he said, with the B.C. government now required to report and offset greenhouse gas emissions as of last year, Gobi is tweaking its software so that its next iteration will additionally be compliant with the provincial government’s emissions reporting standards. “It’ll give us even an added layer of credibility, at least to our B.C. clients, to say, ‘We’re compliant with the provincial government standards,’” Kelly said. Also providing carbon footprint software locally is Climate Smart, which offers software as part of a $1,250 to $2,000 package, which includes three training sessions, an online software tool, oneon-one guidance and support and a “Climate Smart Business” seal as a form of accreditation. Lloyd Lee, Climate Smart’s business development and marketing manager, noted that Climate Smart’s software – like GobiSOFT’s – meets the WRI’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol. He noted that the company also takes some emission calculation standards from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was established on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. Lee said free online calculators aren’t all bad, but noted that they’re more appropriate for individuals than for companies. “If you’re just sort of looking at your own footprint and figuring, ‘If I flew to Hawaii how much would that be?’ that’s fine,” he said. “But if you’re looking at reporting on your business performance in that [carbon] metric then you certainly need rigour behind it.” Vancouver Aquarium sustainability hy do you print? You print to motivate, manager Tara Schaufele said GobiSOFT seemed a “no-brainer” for the aquarto educate, and to inspire and future ium, which started using the software last generations can’t be compromised in the process. SCAN a snake, a gourmet selection summer after Kelly pitched his product to of cheese, a painting, an artifact, At PacBlue Printing we believe that protecting our the organization. a sample board… resources — water, air, and forests — is critically Prior to that, she said, the aquarium important. had tracked its carbon footprint through a series of Excel spreadsheets – an apPRINT door or any flat proach which, she said, lacked conOur commitment is to BIG leave on the asmallest footprint surface, wood, fabric, plexi, mesh, sistency in reporting methodology. possible and to help our customers do the same, so vinyl, paper, styrene, coroplast… Schaufele said that Gobi’s software has we look for ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. allowed the Aquarium to tighten up its carbon reporting and ensure that conWe live our values and we do the right things for the sistency going forward. right reasons.PRINT GREEN brochures, posters She noted the aquarium doesn’t anticiand more on FSC paper with our high pate that using the software will generend DI digital offset press. • We carewaterless about our customers. ate many additional energy cost-savings, as the organization has already reduced • We care about the environment. its footprint substantially in the past few years. But she said the Aquarium sees • We care aboutA ourSIGN community. CREATE for any event, the expenditure on the software and staff business or real estate development. • We care about each other. hours to carry out the assessment as key From business card size to billboard. to carrying out its mission: the conservation of all aquatic species. We’re very proud to work closely with clients as “Ensuring that we follow our mission they champion sustainable development projects can also draw people through the doors ADDsustainable VINYL to a vehicle, a wall, and to offer them print options. We’re because people know what our mission a photocopier, slat boards, windows also proud to have achieved our FSC certification is and a lot of people who come to the …just about any smooth surface! in 2008. Aquarium expect that,” she said. “If we don’t [live] up to that then we’re going to get fewer people coming through the PacBlue Printing. Because the future is not that far doors and we might even get complaints.” away. Staying true to its mission, she said, Yes, we’re a printing company, but not just any printing comp also helps the Aquarium attractLooking and re- for value, passionate professionals, creative printing co tain staff. Welcome to PacBlue Printing. “You’ll get people who work here solely because they believe in what the aquarium is doing and so to continue that support throughout the building, throughout our employees, throughout our organization, we need to continue being a leader.” • www.pacblueprinting.com 200 - 380 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver • 604.714.3288 • www.pacblue. THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Print can be Sustainable
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4 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Waste not, want not
Dominic Schaefer
BC Hydro helps companies reduce footprint and cut costs through energy manager program
As energy manager for Canlan Ice Sports, Darren Parachoniak’s job is to reduce energy consumption at local arenas, like Burnaby 8 Rinks, which uses roughly $500,000 worth of gas and electricity a year
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Nelson Bennett
Keeping the ice at skating rinks frozen year-round takes a lot of heat. Refrigeration, after all, is simply the translation of heat energy into cold through heat exchangers, and the residual heat is usually wasted. That’s wasted money for companies like Canlan Ice Sports, which spends $7.5 million a year on gas and electricity at its 17 Canadian and three American rinks. So when the company learned about BC Hydro’s energy manager program – which subsidizes both the position of an energy manager as well as some of the upgrades he or she recommends – it signed up to the program and hired Darren Parachoniak in 2008. One of the first things to happen at Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
Canlan’s three Lower Mainland arenas was that rink managers were trained to pay attention to how much energy they were using and where they could save. “Typically, organizations see the utility bill as a fixed cost and just pay the bill,” said Parachoniak, Canlan’s director of energy management facilities, assets and equipment. As part of its energy-saving efforts, the company replaced the lights in its North Shore and Langley arenas with energy-efficient fluorescent lights, at a cost of about $18,000 per ice sheet. And since refrigeration systems used to keep ice frozen produce a lot of waste heat, the company plans to install heat exchangers that can recover that ther-
mal energy and use it to heat water for showers and for flooding rinks. Some of the upgrades are costly, but BC Hydro subsidizes some of it through its PowerSmart program. And ultimately, it’s an investment that pays off. “The payback is about two and a half years,” Parachoniak said. “BC Hydro is offering some really attractive incentives to do this work.” Those incentives include paying between 30% and 60% of some of the retrofits energy managers may recommend. One arena alone – Burnaby 8 Rinks – consumes $327,000 in electricity per year and $227,000 in natural gas. “Two and a half years ago, it was 5% higher,” Parachoniak said. “So it’s a savPrinted on a waterless digital offset press
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Business in Vancouver May 2011
ing of about $3,900 per ice sheet since two and a half years ago.” Since 2008, the company has realized one million kilowatt hours of energy savings (including electrical and gas) – about $60,000 per year in B.C. alone. Even Canlan’s Ontario and American arenas are benefiting from Parachoniak’s work, because many of the practices implemented here transfer easily to all arenas. Parachoniak is one of 70 energy managers in B.C. The program is funded jointly by BC Hydro and the participating business or organization (school districts, hospitals, universities and municipalities). There is a separate program for industry, and BC Hydro also recently implemented its own internal program – Lead by Example – aimed at getting its own employees to reduce energy consumption wherever they can at work. The goal of the energy manager program is to train large organizations to approach utility costs with an accountant’s attitude. “They’re ensuring that there are business practices applied to energy management,” said BC Hydro program manager Simon Vickers. Energy managers are employed by the
Vancouver, all of which have had new energy-efficient lighting put in. “It is a real incentive,” she said. “We would be doing [the upgrades], but probably not to the extent that we are doing them.” The energy manager program started eight years ago and costs BC Hydro $5 million a year. The payoff is an annual reduction of 30 gigawatt hours of electricity (enough to power 3,000 homes per year), and savings for BC Hydro worth $37 million. Vickers said 2% to 5% of a business’ operating budget is energy (electrical and gas). Generally, a company that realizes a 10% reduction in its energy bill has covered the cost of paying an energy manager’s salary. However, 10% is about how much energy managers may need to shave off their organizations’ energy bills over the next few years just to keep pace with anticipated hikes. The BC Utilities Commission has approved an interim rate increase of 8%, which took effect May 1. BC Hydro is seeking a 50% rate increase over five years to pay for $6 billion worth of upgrades to dams and other power infra-
“They’re ensuring that there are business practices applied to energy management” – Simon Vickers, program manager, BC Hydro
participating organization or business, not BC Hydro. However, BC Hydro covers half of their salaries, which typically range from $80,000 to $100,000 per year. Alison Kirk-Owen, energy management specialist for Cadillac Fairview, said Hydro’s program has encouraged some of the retrofits her company has undertaken at its 11 office towers in
structure. Those rate increases – and BC Hydro’s operations in general – are now being scrutinized by a review panel struck by the B.C. government. Even if electricity rates do continue to rise in B.C., they will still be lower than in Ontario. Parachoniak said the energy bill for Canlan’s Ontario rinks is double what it is in B.C. •
sponsor’s message
THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Recycle at Work
Encorp Pacific (Canada) is pleased to again be a sponsor of the Business in Vancouver GREEN Breakfast. With sustainable initiatives a priority on everyone’s list, you can increase your company’s green activities simply by ensuring your beverage containers are recycled. Every container collected by the Return-It™ system is recycled and put to good use again. The aluminum can is BC’s most commonly used individual serving container. It takes 95% less energy to manufacture a can from recycled aluminum than it does to make it from brand new material. Plastic bottles are 100% recyclable. Recycling them uses about 1/3 less energy than manufacturing new plastic. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to keep the light on in your bedroom for four hours. For every tonne of paper pulp recycled from drink boxes and cartons, approximately 17 trees are saved. Just by recycling your beverage containers you contribute to the reduction of about 135,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent being released into BC’s atmosphere. That’s like taking 39,000 cars off BC’s highways for a year, and saving enough energy to power 63,000 homes for a year. Again, sincere thanks to BIV for putting on this breakfast series.
BIV MEDIA GROUP
would like to thank the following companies for their
participation in our Green Edition/Green Space editorial advisory panel: GrowthPoint Group,
Sandy Sigmund Encorp Pacific (Canada)
WWF-Canada, Businessworks Consulting, Climate Smart, the Canadian Wood Council, the City of Vancouver, Greenomics, the Canada Green Building Council, Strandberg Consulting and New Climate Strategies.
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Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
6 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Bylaws fuel composting business
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Collection of organic waste will reduce residents’ footprints and save on Vancouver’s tipping fees
Glen Korstrom
Metro Vancouver and City of Vancouver regulatory changes ensure that composting will play an ever-larger role in Vancouverites’ lives. The key change is that putting kitchen scraps in the garbage will be illegal by the end of 2012. That’s a change spurred in part by the city’s desire to take as long as possible to fill its landfill and its business case analysis of how much cheaper it is to fill its own landfill than someone else’s. The question is how enforceable the bylaw will be. “Legally, you must recycle now,” Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer told Business in Vancouver in April. She then cited both Metro Vancouver and various municipal bylaws. “Anything that is permissible to put in a blue box is illegal to put in your garbage can,” she said. In 2013, the same will be true for compostable items. The City of Vancouver has contracted Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre to collect 50,000 tonnes annually and turn it into compost. Any revenue that this Harvest Power subsidiary generates from selling compost, it gets to keep. Port Coquitlam started its kitchen scraps program in 2007 followed by Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Richmond and Vancouver, which signed on last year. Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
North Vancouver will launch a program this spring while other municipalities will follow suit later in the year. Vancouverites in single-family homes now have garbage picked up once a week, whereas bins that contain both yard waste and non-putrifying, compostable kitchen items are picked up once every two weeks. “Non-putrifying waste” is the way the city describes compostable trash that does not have any dairy, fish or meat products. Reimer expects pick-up schedules to be reversed in 2013. Then, garbage would be picked up once every two weeks and compostables once a week. Because the pick-up schedule for compostables would be more frequent, Vancouverites would then be able to start putting chicken bones and other putrifying compostables in their yard waste bin. The big no-no will continue to be putting any plastic bags in the container of compostables. Vancouver garbage is dumped at the city-owned Vancouver Landfill, which is based in Delta. “The landfill is a substantial asset,” Reimer said. “We’ve owned it for a long time. The cost of tipping in our own landfill, as opposed to someone else’s landfill, is much lower. So, we want to make the landfill last as long as is humanly possible. By far, the easiest big-
volume items to get out of the current waste stream is food.” Embarking on a composting initiative is also easier than combatting another main reason why the landfill is filling up so fast: Delta residents get to dump whatever they want for free. That was one stipulation that the city of Vancouver agreed to long ago when it started using land in Delta as a dump. “Delta residents have six times the amount of residential garbage production than we do because they have no cost incentives to bring it down,” Reimer said. But that’s a battle for another day. In the interim, encouraging Vancouver homeowners to compost appears to be the best way for the City of Vancouver to meet Metro Vancouver’s goal to have all Lower Mainland residents increase the proportion of trash they recycle from 55% today to 70% by 2015. To get there, Metro Vancouver must compost 265,000 tonnes of organics, which is equivalent to about one quarter of B.C. Place Stadium. Metro Vancouver residents currently dump about 3.4 million tonnes of garbage annually. There are three main ways to compost: •putting non-putrifying items in a yard waste bin; •putting non-putrifying items in a composter that is available from the City of Vancouver for $25 including tax; or Printed on a waterless digital offset press
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Business in Vancouver May 2011
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THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Efficiency comes standard
Dominic Schaefer
It’s a simple premise with farreaching implications: a more efficient vehicle means better performance and in turn, less impact on our environment.
Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer wants to encourage Vancouverites to compost kitchen scraps
“The cost of tipping in our own landfill, as opposed to someone else’s landfill, is much lower. So, we want to make the landfill last as long as is humanly possible” – Andrea Reimer, councillor, City of Vancouver
•buying a higher-end composter from a company such as Encore. “With our composters you can compost a whole chicken if you like,” said Encore president Danielle Knight. “You can compost cooked and raw meats – just no big bones. You can’t do a steak bone or something like that. But you can do egg shells, coffee grinds and filters and fish.” Knight’s composters start at $780 plus HST and range up to $50,000 for an induson 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper
trial-sized one good for grocery stores. Knight founded her business two years ago, has one employee and generated tens of thousands of dollars in 2010 revenue, although some of those sales were for consulting services. “Business is great,” she said. “We sell to and consult with stratas. That industry is something that is not hugely focused on right now due to the fact that there’s not a lot of policies in place for stratas.” •
Our energy-saving and fuelefficient technologies give our cars a technical, mechanical and environmental advantage: Audi TDI® features clean diesel technology, the cleanest burning diesel technology in the world. Meanwhile, Audi Direct Injection FSI® technology increases the torque of spark-ignition engines, making them as much as 15% more economical. Of course, efficiency doesn’t begin and end with engines. Extensive use of aluminum in the all-new Audi A7 makes for a vehicle that’s incredibly light, but retains its structural strength in the event of a collision. The A7’s reduced weight enhances handling and performance and improves fuel consumption. Our focus on progress through technology comes with it the drive for optimum efficiency. It expresses how we are constantly striving to create innovations that use every single drop of fuel more and more intelligently. It’s our driving force. It’s in our genes – and in every single Audi. Efficiency – it comes standard on every Audi. Visit your local Vancouver dealer to find out more.
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8 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Green is good Socially responsible investing rapidly tipping into the mainstream consciousness of local and global investors
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Eugene Ellmen, executive director, Social Investment Organization: confident the SRI industry is on the cutting edge of what will become mainstream
Richard Chu
Twenty years ago, only the most progressive investor would have considered risking their money in a relatively untested idea of “ethical” investing. Screening companies that either were ethically unsavoury or employed environmentally harmful or socially unacceptable business practices seemed arbitrary. More often than not, mainstream investment advisers thought it simply a marketing gimmick to differentiate themselves from other funds on the market. But fast forward to 2011, and the idea of reviewing investments from a more socially responsible lens has become a core consideration for tens of thousands of investors and hundreds of major asset management firms around the world. Globally, nearly 900 organizations representing more than $20 trillion in assets have signed on to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a voluntary set of guidelines for incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into investment decision-making processes and ownership practices. That’s up from the 70 organizations managing $4 trillion in assets back in 2006 when the UN PRI was launched. In Canada alone, the total value of assets that employ a socially responsible mandate has ballooned tenfold in the past decade to $531.8 billion in 2010, from $49.9 Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
billion in 2000. According to Canada’s Social Investment Organization (SIO), about 20% of the total assets managed by asset management firms, pension funds and the mutual fund industry now employ metrics to evaluate and engage companies on environmental, social and governance issues. Kevin Ranney, director of advisory services at Jantzi-Sustainalytics, noted that growth in socially responsible investing has come from two camps: the traditional ethical investing market of investors that want to align their investment decisions with their own personal values; and investors who see environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as an important way to reduce risk. The bulk of the growth has come from pension funds and other institutional investors that use ESG to mitigate risk. In Canada, about $496 billion in assets managed by Canada’s largest pension funds like the BC Investment Management Corp. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board incorporate ESG considerations in their investment decisionmaking. Ranney said the acceptance of ESG metrics by institutional investors has been one of the key factors that have encouraged and, in some cases, pushed, companies to take a closer look at their environmental and social impact. Institutional
support for increasing transparency by companies about their environmental and social record has led to increasing participation in various disclosure projects like the Carbon Disclosure Project, where companies agree to measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, water management and climate change strategies. Significant institutional support has also bolstered the confidence and investment by average investors. Bob Walker, vice-president at Vancouver-based Ethical Funds, noted the once-fringe movement has grown, in part, because investors are gradually seeing the long-term benefits of reviewing a company’s environmental and social practices. “In some places, if you say ‘ethical investing’ people still think it’s nothing more than a tobacco screen,” said Walker. “But even in the ’90s, Ethical Funds was doing environmental and social evaluations of companies that make it into their fund. Those broader and, one might argue, more profound issues, have tended to offer returns with lower risk, which is a benefit to our investors who tend to be more risk-averse.” Eugene Ellmen, SIO’s executive director, noted that a new generation of investors already accepts the value of owning companies that take a more holistic and Printed on a waterless digital offset press
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Business in Vancouver May 2011
Kevin Ranney, director of advisory services, Jantzi-Sustainalytics: increasing disclosure further boosting acceptance of ESG issues
Benjamin Richardson, Canada research chair in environmental law and sustainability: legal and regulatory changes can further bolster socially responsible investing
sustainable approach to their business. “What advisers tell me is that in terms of [SRI] assets, it’s older people who hold the bulk of the assets. But in terms of interest, they’re getting a lot of interest from people in their 20s and 30s. We expect that this demographic will be fully committed to this and be part of the mainstream when they are accumulating assets.” These younger investors will also likely pay attention to whether or not SRI funds will out-perform funds that don’t employ
socially responsible metrics. However, accurately measuring the returns of SRI funds continues to be problematic. Benjamin Richardson, a UBC law professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law and Sustainability, noted there isn’t a standard, universally agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a socially responsible fund, making it very difficult to compare SRI funds to those that don’t declare themselves as such. “Studies have shown that if you [compare] the portfolios of SRI
Total value of Canadian assets of socially responsible investments $600 $579.1 $531.8
$500
$467.4
Canadian SRI Assets ($ billions)
$400
$300
$200
$100
$49.9
$51.4
2000
2002
$65.4
$0 2004
on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper
2006
2008
2010
funds to non-SRI funds, the overlap is quite substantial.” While voluntary participation in guidelines like the UN PRI can be meaningful, such a system does not necessarily include strong accountability measures to prevent signatories from simply signing up for marketing purposes. He suggested additional legal or regulatory changes may be needed to bolster the significance of environmental, social and governance issues for company executives. Over the past few years, some governments around the world including the U.K. and Australia have required their pension and sovereign wealth funds to disclose their activities or policies around ESG issues. Ontario was one of the first Canadian provinces to announce in its 2011 budget that it would require its provincially regulated pension funds to disclose whether they have policies that address ESG factors. But disclosing ESG policies is still an initial step. Richardson noted for any ESG disclosure to be meaningful, funds need to disclose what they are doing in practice toward their ESG goals. “That’s what’s important; that’s what’s missing.” Beyond disclosure, activist SRI investors are working to deepen the relevance of ESG issues for corporate executives. Ellmen noted funds have been advocating inclusion of environmental and social metrics as part of executive compensation packages. The move is meant to incentivize executives to improve performance in those areas. Ethical Funds has been a key proponent of such measures. Walker said the company has written to, held discussions with, or filed shareholder proposals over the past year with at least 10 banks and nine energy companies about incorporating ESG factors into their executive compensation. Many focus on increasing transparency and accountability, which Walker said was an important element leading to further improvement in environmental and social issues affecting a company. Ellmen noted, “Most management is still reluctant to move in this direction, but the SRI industry is on the cutting edge of what is going to be mainstream practice in the years to come, but it’s not going to happen overnight.” • Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
10 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Puzzling out the power sector The provincial government wants B.C. to become a clean-energy powerhouse, but thorny political and regulatory realities have created a challenging environment for energy producers
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For all the government’s talk about energy self-sufficiency in B.C., the fate of the province’s clean power sector is more uncertain than ever. Political turmoil in the legislature, and complex regulatory regimes coupled with market forces have created a challenging environment for clean power businesses, explained Paul Kariya, executive director of Clean Energy BC. “It’s an uncertain time market-wise, politically, what’s happening south of the border and the fact that [that U.S. has] heavy subsidies that restrict our exports … uncertainty is the word that’s key here,” he said. And the fog isn’t likely to clear for B.C.’s power sector any time soon. Earlier this spring, B.C.’s new energy minister, Rich Coleman, announced a full audit of BC Hydro’s operations after the utility filed a formal request to raise rates 32% over the next three years to pay for a $6 billion capital investment program. “Everything is on the table for discussion,” Coleman said during a recent speech to energy executives in Vancouver. A year ago, the province introduced the Clean Energy Act, touted as a new “foundation” for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and investment in clean power. Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
Dominic Schaefer
Joel McKay
Run of River Power CEO Rick Hopp says BC Hydro’s clean-power call process has been very challenging for business
“The new Clean Energy Act opens the way to an exciting new age of economic growth and job creation,” former premier Gordon Campbell said at the time. Of course, Campbell’s much-criticized harmonized sales tax took centre stage shortly thereafter, leading to his resignation and a sea change in Victoria’s halls of power. Amid the chaos, the Clean Energy Act was forgotten. Kariya believes it will take another provincial election before power-sector issues such as the carbon tax and cap and
trade program are sorted out. “There’s a lack of clarity on where that stuff is going to go, and we need to hear that more crisply from the current government,” Kariya said. Meanwhile, the businesses that were hoping for a windfall of new independent power investment opportunities in B.C. are reassessing their options. In April, shareholders approved a merger between local clean-energy firms Plutonic Power and Magma Energy to create a new company called Alterra Power that can bank on assets beyond B.C. Printed on a waterless digital offset press
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“Just being in British Columbia it was tough to grow our business, which is why we’ve expanded into Ontario and why Alterra has been created,” said Donald McInnis, vice-chairman and CEO of Plutonic. Other local companies such as Cloudworks Energy, Sea Breeze Power and Aeolis Wind have either been bought out or landed strategic investors to breathe life into their power projects. Kariya said it’s a sign that people are still bullish on B.C. But not every company has found success here. Delta’s Run of River Power scuttled two biomass projects earlier this year after it failed to get through BC Hydro’s Bioenergy Phase 2 call for power. “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t go back and get into biomass in B.C.,” said Run of River president and CEO Rick Hopp. “I’m a biomass advocate, I’ve done projects in that area before but [I won’t do it] here.” His main concern is that BC Hydro favours projects that can sell power back into the grid for the lowest price possible. That makes it difficult for small companies to compete with large forestry companies that can sell power to the utility for lower prices. BC Hydro is open about the fact that it tries to secure electricity purchase agreements (EPAs) for the lowest price possible. “We look at where’s the best value for the rate-payer,” said Jim Scouras, Hydro’s manager of commercial acquisitions. But that’s created another problem. Hopp said the system has caused some companies to bid prices that are so low the project becomes uneconomic to build or the companies have trouble landing financing. In the past, that’s caused many projects to be abandoned after they’ve signed an agreement with BC Hydro. “We assume 30% of the contracts we award won’t make it to the finish line,”
curt cherewayko
Business in Vancouver May 2011
Plutonic Power CEO Donald McInnis says if you want to grow a clean-power company you have to look beyond B.C.
Scouras said. The utility said it attempts to keep that number as low as possible. In fact, Scouras said he’s not aware of any EPAs awarded through the 2008 clean-power call that have fallen through. But that might have something to do with the rigorous nature of the 2008 power call. Although it was announced in 2008, the EPAs weren’t awarded until 2010, a full year longer than earlier clean power calls. That means power producers were locked into 2008 bidding and construction prices even though market prices increased, in some cases significantly, by the time a purchase agreement was awarded. Kariya called it an “impossible” situation for power producers to deal with. “Construction rates [were] going up, Olympics [were] happening so the bids put in in 2008 need to be refreshed but you’re stuck with it,” Kariya said. “It’s very complicated,” Hopp added.
“Uncertainty is the word that’s key here” – Paul Kariya, executive director, Clean Energy BC
on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper
Scouras said part of the problem was that midway through the call the BC Utilities Commission disagreed with Hydro’s long-term power acquisition plan, which lengthened the process. Then, a BC Supreme Court decision regarding First Nations consultation added additional time on top of that. “We agree that call took a long time. … That was a challenging set of circumstances for power producers and BC Hydro,” Scouras said. Although Hydro has other smaller calls for power that are ongoing, a new clean power call won’t be on the horizon until the utility completes its latest integrated resource plan, which will determine how much power it needs to buy to keep the province’s lights on. The plan is due out later this year, but, in the meantime, all eyes are focused on the province’s BC Hydro audit. The government’s decisions could have major implications for the clean power sector. Yet even though uncertainty and challenges lay ahead, Hopp continues to believe that B.C. is a good place to invest. “Business is tough. … It’s a very long development cycle and you have to be sharp and prudent,” Hopp said. “We’re actually looking forward to doing future business here.” • Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
12 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Perfect pitch Boot camp teaches clean-tech companies how to garner the right capital investment to advance beyond the development stage
Jay Giraud, president and CEO of REV Technologies: “the attitude today with clean-tech investors is that they are getting in for seven to 10 years, not two to three”
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Jennifer Harrison
In April, seven B.C. clean-technology companies attended an investor boot camp hosted by some of B.C.’s top professional business service providers. The companies were selected to participate in the inaugural Northern Cleantech Showcase, which introduced seven leading Vancouver clean-technology companies to high-calibre investors in the Silicon Valley. Created by Vancouver-based cleantech consulting, research and advising firm Kachan & Co., the showcase also saw collaboration from program sponsors Deloitte, Gowlings and the government of British Columbia. Clean tech or green tech, as it is also referred to, is any type of new technology that is trying to cultivate or already has the ability to bring efficiency in Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
terms of the environment or energy output – and, most importantly, at a competitive cost and at a commercialized level. In order to prepare the seven cleantech companies for the investor presentations, Kachan & Co., Deloitte and Gowlings hosted a day-long, intensive investor boot camp. The boot camp was aimed at equipping the companies with the knowledge and skills to successfully pitch leading clean-technology investors and corporation in the Silicon Valley. It was a focused program that included coaching on U.S. investor expectations, marketing strategies for cleantechnology companies specifically and valuation approaches for fast-growth companies.
Bev Pao, audit partner and clean-tech expert with Deloitte in Vancouver, said their session was focused on helping the companies understand how investors specific to the industry may value the company. “When you are looking at clean-tech companies, they may have negative early cash flows or earnings, but there may be significant projected rewards at a later period,” said Pao. “Traditional valuation approaches, either an income approach or even a market approach, which are more tailored to mature and stable businesses or businesses that have a lot of market comparables, don’t work very well with the companies we were working with.” Jay Giraud, president and CEO of REV Technologies (REV), one of the Printed on a waterless digital offset press
the Green edition 13
Business in Vancouver May 2011
Bev Pao, audit partner at Deloitte, says B.C. has a wealth of innovative clean-tech companies spread across a variety of sectors
seven selected companies at April’s boot camp, agreed wholeheartedly. Headquartered in Vancouver, REV, or Rapid Electric Vehicles, develops advanced electric vehicle-to-grid technology. The company’s drive systems enable electric fleet vehicles’ stored energy to power industrial equipment, buildings and even the utility grid itself. Giraud believes the biggest and most unique issue facing a clean-tech company and its potential investors is the longer return on investment. “Clean tech is not like the dot-combubble era. You need bricks and mortar and hardware,” said Giraud. “Big businesses are learning along with venture capital investors that you really have to invest in the fundamentals to make a million electric cars. For the batteries alone you need two years to build those battery plants.” Consequently, Pao said one of the key factors Deloitte covered was walking the companies through quantitative and qualitative data points for the company to strengthen what really drives the value in their company. “And unless they stress that and unless they help an investor understand that, an investor may incorrectly or improperly value the company based on that perception,” she said. on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper
Dallas Kachan, managing partner of Kachan & Co., thinks Vancouver’s clean-tech companies lack access to both capital and purchase orders
“This applies throughout technology in venture investing, but more so than ever now in green tech, there is a requirement for disruptive technology, not simply incremental improvements” – Dallas Kachan, managing partner, Kachan & Co. Pao also encouraged the companies to emphasize the quality of their science and technology and to explain what makes their companies so special and sets them apart. Dallas Kachan, managing partner of Kachan & Co. also stressed this point. “This applies throughout technology in venture investing, but more so than ever now in green tech, there is a requirement for disruptive technology, not simply incremental improvements.” He said it used to be that just being a green technology company was good enough. Not so anymore. “Marketing now matters and you need to be able to articulate your differentiation in the marketplace,” said Kachan. When it comes to the primary driver of clean tech these days, Kachan takes
quite a controversial point of view. “It isn’t so much global climate change or corporate social responsibility, it’s the opportunity to save a dollar or emerge as a leading company with a consolidated portfolio of innovative clean-technology companies.” He also noted that carbon counting is a lot less of a driver today than it was two years ago with the anticipation of a binding carbon regime in the U.S. However, Pao noted that carbon footprint calculation can add value to a company from a marketing perspective. “It is important when talking about sales and revenues, when a company is selling itself or trying to secure revenue contracts – a lot of their customers may be interested in ensuring that they can lock [carbon reductions] down.” • Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
14 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Regulated responsibilities
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Jenny Wagler
As B.C. continues to lead North America in rolling out extended producer responsibility (EPR) recycling programs, the province’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face new obligations and new opportunities. EPR is an environmental policy approach that extends a producer’s responsibility into the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle – in other words, if you make it or import it, you figure out how to collect and recycle it. To date, B.C. has extended EPR programs to products such as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage containers, batteries, tires, paint, pesticides, flammable liquids and gasoline, compact fluorescent light bulbs and tubes, mercury switches, and a range of electronics including computers, TVs, printers and cell phones. Brock Macdonald, executive director of the Recycling Council of BC (RCBC), said next up will likely be packaging – expected to include pre-packaged goods such as those found in grocery stores, printed materials excluding books, pre-consumer packaging such as palettes and shrink wrap, and fast-food containers. On a risk-management front, Macdonald recommended that local producer or importer SMEs contact the appropriate product stewardship organization – such as the Electronics Stewardship Association of BC – or RCBC itself, to get clear on EPR regulations Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
Dominic Schaefer
Recycling programs create new obligations and opportunities for SMEs
Frogbox founder Doug Burgoyne: “I would hope there would be some sort of financial burden placed on cardboard that would help steer people toward us”
and how to prepare for them. But he noted that with the new obligations come new green business opportunities for entrepreneurs with ideas to capitalize on recycled materials or otherwise leverage the new recycling reality. “Those opportunities are only limited by our imagination,” said Macdonald. He noted that Calgary-based Global Environmental Manufacturing (GEM), for example, has been turning old tires into a “cedar” roofing material for more than a decade. Vancouver-based Penfolds Roofing Inc. has been marketing the GEM’s EcoRoof Rubber Shake for seven or eight years, Penfolds group sales manager Larry Bieber said. “The opportunity came up and we jumped on it,” he said, noting that the average EcoRoof recycles 700 to 800 tires, looks like cedar and for a slightly higher price lasts at least three times as long, with its 50-year warrantee. He estimated that EcoRoof sales make up approximately a fifth of Penfolds’ roofing sales, attracting both an environmentally conscious market and a “common sense” market drawn to the roofs’ durability. Ready for both sides of the new EPR equation is Dragons’ Den darling Frogbox – the plastic moving box rental company judged this year’s best green business by Small Business BC. Keeping well ahead of any EPR regulations, Frogbox has set up a recycling agreement with Blue Planet Recycling Ltd. to re-
cycle the company’s boxes when they cease to be usable, founder Doug Burgoyne said. He noted that as the plastic can then be ground down and resold, the recycling program pays for itself. As for EPR-generated opportunities, he said Frogbox is poised to capitalize on any new regulations that might drive Vancouverites away from using their current 450,000 annual cardboard boxes for residential moves. He noted that while most cardboard gets recycled, the process requires quantities of water and energy – costs he hopes to see picked up by producers and users. “I would hope there would be some sort of financial burden placed on cardboard that would help steer people toward us.” Burgoyne said he’s “torn” on government regulation of small businesses through things such as EPR programs, and cautioned that new environmental regulations could overburden marginal businesses – particularly if they undermine a business’ competitiveness on a global scale. But he said as long as a balance can be found between businesses’ survival and the achievement of environmental goals, B.C.’s pioneering role can position the province for future success. “I do think that that in 20 years, the businesses that jump ahead right now in [recycling] will be best-situated globally because there will come a point when this needs to be mandated globally.” • Printed on a waterless digital offset press
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16 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Carbon accountability
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Dominic Schaefer
Small and mediumsized companies face new pressures to measure and reduce their impact Solstice Sustainability Works principal Susan Todd: there are clear risk-management reasons for bankers to start scrutinizing SMEs’ carbon-management practice
By Jenny Wagler
While ethics, energy savings and brand lift are currently the key reasons why small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) choose to manage their carbon, experts say new pressures may soon drive more businesses into the carbon accounting game. Their best assessment of what’s to come? Supply chain and lender pressures. Local sustainability reporting consultant Susan Todd, principal of Solstice Sustainability Works Inc., said as large companies face regulatory and investor pressures to up their carbon-management game, those pressures are being pushed out toward their supply chains – which include SMEs. As, for example, large companies pursue a listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index or look to report to the Carbon Disclosure Project, she said, they start scrutinizing their supply chains’ carbon management. “We see things like Walmart developing a sustainability checklist and they’re going to be evaluating their suppliers against it,” she said. “So even if [carbon management] wasn’t on your radar, it needs to be pretty soon.” Lloyd Lee, business development and marketing manager for Vancouver-based carbon-management coaching company Climate Smart noted that with 179 B.C. Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
local governments pledged to be carbon neutral by 2012 under the Climate Action Charter, those pressures may be pushed out to municipal suppliers. As draft guidance firms up this year about how local governments need to calculate in their operational carbon footprints, he said, municipal service providers could find themselves swept into new carbon management requirements. “Any sort of contracted services – for instance, all your snow plows – might be included in that [municipal footprint calculation],” he said. “Which means that companies that supply the municipalities will probably be required by the local governments to at least measure if not reduce.” Henry Stoch, senior manager of sustainability and climate change, enterprise risk, for Deloitte, said that as Canada inches toward putting a price on carbon, whether through a cap and trade system or a carbon tax approach, lenders will increasingly view sound carbon management as a proxy for good risk management – even for smaller-sized companies. “If you’re looking to raise money, if you can present how you manage your business to a lender in a way that they can see the thinking around what risks your business faces and how you’ve integrated your strategy going forward to deal with
those, that’s certainly compelling,” he said. Stoch predicted that going forward, lenders will extend an approach increasingly being applied to large resource projects and formally scrutinize SMEs’ carbon-management plans. “I think as [lenders] formalize how they lend money for larger projects, that mode of thinking will certainly extend to the rest of their business,” Stoch predicted. Todd said while she’s not aware of many lending managers who are yet looking at how SMEs manage their carbon, there are clear reasons for them to start doing so. “If a company’s entire business model is predicated on a weather system that’s not going to be here in 10 years, or if the price of carbon were to accelerate dramatically and a company has a large transportation component to its business, that’s something that bankers should probably be taking account of,” she said. For SMEs who have yet to make any inroads on the carbon-management front, she said, much can be achieved simply by scrutinizing hydro bills and honing in on the areas where the largest energy savings can be achieved. “Apply the principle of materiality,” she said. “Focus on where the really big wins are.” • Printed on a waterless digital offset press
ADVERTORIAL
One billion containers are recycled every year Encorp Pacific is one of North America’s leading product stewardship corporations
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ith over 175 depots and mobile collectors across BC, the Return-It™ system is a British Columbia success story. Thanks to BC residents, 80% of the beverage containers sold in the province are recovered and recycled into something new. That’s over one billion containers kept out of our landfills.
Encorp Pacific (Canada) runs the Return-It system. As one of BC’s largest product stewardship corporations, Encorp’s mandate is to develop and manage a consumer-friendly and costeffective system to recover end-oflife consumer products and packaging for recycling. Encorp monitors and estimates greenhouse gas emissions associated with its recycling activities. This helps reduce their carbon footprint and maximize their net benefit to the planet.
The numbers speak louder than words In 2010, more than one billion containers were recycled. That’s approximately 365 million aluminum cans, 355 million plastic bottles, 215 million glass bottles, 82 million drink boxes and cartons, and 10 million other containers of varying types. “One billion containers weigh around 97,000 metric tonnes. That’s about the size of an aircraft carrier,” adds Encorp’s President and CEO, Neil Hastie. “Imagine if our landfills had to accommodate that in addition to everything else that’s thrown out.”
It all started with soft drinks First established in 1994, Encorp created a network of province-wide recycling depots to ensure soft drink containers were recycled. The system expanded in 1998 when the provincial
government expanded the recycling regulations to include water, juice and alcohol containers. Today, consumers pay a deposit on all ready-to-drink beverage containers sold in BC, except for milk. Encorp’s Return-It Depot system collects containers from consumers and returns them for recycling on behalf of more than 1,000 beverage brand owners. “When Encorp first started, we were recycling about 300 million containers. Over the past 16 years, that number has just kept growing and growing,” says Hastie.
Milk and electronics too As product stewardship has expanded over the years, so has Encorp. They also manage the recycling of milk containers on behalf of the Dairy Council of BC and electronics for the Electronics Stewardship Association of BC (ESABC). “In less than three years, 50 million kilograms of electronics have been diverted from landfills and recycled responsibly in BC. It’s one of the highest rates of e-waste diversion in North America,” says Tyler Garnes, Encorp’s Logistics Manager.
Transparency is a priority The details of Encorp’s financial system are available to the public, including audited financial statements. Revenues include the sale of collected materials to recyclers, unredeemed container deposits and, if required, a Container Recycling Fee (CRF). Expenses include deposit refunds, handling fees to depots, transportation and processing of collected containers, consumer awareness and administration.
No government funding Encorp is 100% industry operated and
receives no government funding. They combine private sector efficiencies with a high degree of public sector transparency to manage collection and recycling programs. You can view Encorp’s annual report at return-it.ca/annualreport
Taking responsibility creates a world-class recycling system BC’s product stewardship model is one of North America’s best. The model shifts responsibility for managing end-of-life products and packaging from local governments and taxpayers to producers and consumers. The Recycling Regulation, under authority of the Environmental Management Act, sets out the requirements for product stewardship in BC. Returning your products through the collection systems established by any of BC’s stewards guarantees they will be recycled safely and responsibly.
PRINCIPLES FOR PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP 1. Producer-user responsibility – Costs are shifted from taxpayers to producers and users, not downloaded to local governments. 2. Level playing field – Producers are accountable for stewardship responsibilities. Consumers have reasonable and free access to collection facilities. 3. Results-based – Methods and programs are developed by the corporation and measured by the results achieved. 4. Transparency and accountability – Financial statements are independently audited and publicly available.
return-it.ca
18 the GREEN edition
May 2011 Business in Vancouver
Office green
Lisa von Sturmer and Andrew Sutherland Beyond Oprah’s ice-cream cone
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n her latest top-10 easy green tips, Oprah Winfrey suggested switching out your paper cups with waffle ice cream cones. True, most environmental initiatives aren’t as delicious, but they should seem just as ice-cream-coneeasy. When you’re looking at “greening” an office, simplicity becomes even more important. Busy people want easy 1-2-3 steps that lead to real impact. The idea for our company, Growing City, grew from our belief that if we made office composting super simple, a larger scope of people would participate. We decided that we needed to offer the complete package – training, education and full-service bin maintenance. While composting at the office is a daily, tangible reminder of a company’s commitment to “green,” we knew that facts and figures would be a powerful tool used to keep people engaged in the program. Every Growing City client receives introductory training sessions and is provided monthly graphic diversion reports. These reports showcase the amount of waste they’ve diverting from the landfill and the effect it has on reducing their carbon footprint. The reports are emailed to staff – or posted on a wiki – making it easy for a business to communicate progress to their team. One of the best ways to get people excited about programs is to show them how well they’re doing – reports, graphs and charts help people connect their actions to results. Discovering effective ways to reduce a company’s environmental impact is streamlined by participating in intercompany green teams. Bentall Kennedy’s ForeverGreen team came together four years ago as a way to share green leads, successes and develop Printing partner: PacBlue Printing
a monthly “green” project. Their plastic-bag-recycling project was launched throughout Bentall Kennedy tenants, making it easy for people to recycle plastic bags and trade them in for reusable options. When members of ForeverGreen try a new product or service they will share their experiences with the team. Growing City started composting with Bentall Kennedy after our services were introduced to Joyce Anoyo of Fasken Martineau, who relayed the info to representatives at Teck and Deloitte, who then committed to testing us out. The success of the initial pilot transitioned into building-wide initiatives.
Green business ideas exchange If your business isn’t positioned for intercompany meetings, the David Suzuki Foundation hosts regular Green Cafe workshops to facilitate the exchange of eco-ideas between businesses. Company-sponsored volunteer days are becoming another popular way to get teams involved in sustainability. In fact, last year more than 80% of the people at Deloitte Canada joined forces for Impact Day. Enthusiastic employees engaged in a diverse range of projects including tree planting, elder care and working with the homeless. Companies like Deloitte create a winwin situation by organizing a paid day of community action. Most people say they would volunteer if they had the time and now they do. Happy employees helping out the neighbourhood in logoed t-shirts is a reward in itself for most businesses, however sponsored volunteer days have additional ROI, like improving office teamwork and employee morale – positive side-effects that reduce turnover. Now that we’ve got you excited about
these great programs, here’s the rub: initiatives like these will only endure past the initial novelty phase if participants are personally invested in the new “conscious” office culture. That’s why many businesses are turning to consultants that specialize in behaviour change and education. Consultants come into an environment, assess roadblocks and then develop a strategy to drastically reduce the time needed to improve participation, at all levels. Jennifer Davis from Turnleaf Consulting explains: “Many employers have developed green programs that simply involve policy and procedure, for instance, all corporate travel must be carbon offset. But they haven’t drilled it down to the individual employee and communicated to them what their part is in their sustainability program. I hear it all the time from employees, ‘Our company has a sustainability department but I’m not involved in that part of the business.’” This, of course, can be a source of tremendous frustration and unnecessary expense. Disconnected employees lose interest quickly. Publicizing achievable monthly targets is an effective way to maintain a foundation of involvement, from which new programs and commitments can evolve. So what will “easy” cost you? Davis makes another great point here, “Staying ahead of the game is always going to be more cost-effective than being regulated into compliance with environmental standards and having to play catch up.” • Lisa von Sturmer and Andrew Sutherland are co-founders of Growing City, Vancouver’s urban composting solution. To learn more about composting, greening your office and local community events, visit www.growingcity.ca. Printed on a waterless digital offset press
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