Canada—The Carbon Impact Initiative
The United Nations Environmental has reported that buildings account for 40% of emissions as a result of the construction, operations and maintenance over the life of a building.
The Carbon Impact Initiative (CII) is an industry-wide effort by the EllisDon Corporation (a world leading construction/building firm) to contribute to a low-carbon economy in Canada by providing a strategic direction for future buildings and communities. To launch this initiative, EllisDon reached out to leading contributors in sustainable development and advanced energy technologies in the development of large-scale commercial buildings, energy, communications and infrastructure across Canada.
CII seeks to build and retrofit the next generation of buildings and infrastructure to surpass new performance standards; and, in doing so, design and promote an industry systems approach to offset the carbon footprint in currant building development, construction, and operations. It currently has 3 pilot projects and there are 15 others in the pipeline.
EllisDon created the CII as a means to engage market leaders across sectors in a response to new priorities. Industry will bear the brunt of the responsibility to meet Canada’s commitment to the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% below 2005 levels in 2030.The public sector needs to rely on industry practices to guide development and carbon pricing. The Carbon Impact Intiative will make an important contribution to this effort.
Learn More about the CII Strategy
Largely adapted from http://lowcarbonagenda.ellisdon.com/actionplan.pdf and
www.ellisdon.com/sustainable-building
The need for retrofits and net zero new building design http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2017/constructing-our-future-with-low-carbon-buildings/
What is needed next from the Pan-Canadian Framework http://climateactionnetwork.ca/2017/03/21/action-update-canadian-climate-policy-2/