These actions are truly the tip of the sword in terms of the global acknowledgement that worldwide change is needed to achieve sustainable results in reducing carbon emissions. Case in point: whereas 10 years ago the agenda of the G8 leaders’ meetings was dominated by talk of globalization and emerging economies, the G8 meeting from this past July saw those same “emerging economies” being asked to play a more significant role in addressing the industrial impacts affecting climate change. Closer to home, and of particular interest to Alberta energy companies from a cross-border trade standpoint, the Obama administration’s ambitious climate-change legislation passed in the United States House of Representatives on June 26. The legislation will introduce tough measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and create a cap-and-trade system of pollution permits while funding investment in new energy sources.
The reality is that companies can wait to be dragged into the transformation – because it’s inevitable – or they can be proactive and build sustainability into their overall strategy. The current economic environment together with regulatory pressures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – as well as funding incentives to develop new technologies – is creating a sweet spot for companies to act now. Supporting this recognition that change is needed, in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ July 2009 Canadian Energy Survey, 40% of respondents said they would make strategic investments to lower their carbon emissions in the next 12 months.
This year’s Venture 100 survey provided insight into the proactive steps that many companies are taking around climate change. For example, Newalta Inc. (#80), Canada’s leading industrial waste management and environmental services company, has a clear mandate to reduce its environmental footprint. As a result, it is investing heavily in innovation and R&D to improve the quality and consistency of its products, enabling the company to expand into new lines of services, extend its market reach and improve operational effectiveness.
AltaGas Utility Group Inc. (#153) is pursuing renewable energy projects to ensure long-term sustainability of its power business, to reduce its carbon intensity factor and to diversify by geography, fuel source and contract type. The company is also investing in wind and hydrology studies at multiple locations in Western Canada and the U.S. to develop models to determine which projects to pursue. And, in a truly proactive move, AltaGas is well down the road in pursuing opportunities to reduce carbon emissions by buying and selling emissions credits.
Further to the point about trends in corporate partnerships, a good example of this can be seen in this area of new, sustainable approaches to managing carbon emissions. Epcor Utilities Ltd. (#24) and Enbridge Inc. (#6) have partnered on an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) carbon capture power generation facility at the Genesee coal-burning power plant west of Edmonton. It is one of three projects selected by the Government of Alberta for the negotiation of letters of intent under the province’s $2-billion program for large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. The facility would be North America’s first project combining an IGCC commercial-scale near-zero-emission thermal power plant with carbon capture, compression and storage.
This is also the mindset that many smaller, private businesses have already. Many are springing up with technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The viability for these types of startup companies is clear. In this economic climate, executives are willing to listen to ideas that will increase their efficiencies and reduce their energy consumption.
These are only a few examples of the proactive steps many of the province’s companies – both public and private – are taking when it comes to managing the issue of emissions and climate change. Of course, one company’s risk is another company’s opportunity. But at the end of the day, any business that manages to use this down cycle to become more efficient through innovation is clearly going to take the lead when the economy recovers, as well as in the long run. Whether that innovation comes in the form of a new, efficient way of utilizing energy, a more sustainable use of natural resources or the development of new products to help others become more sustainable, tomorrow’s leaders will look at climate change and its potential impacts through an opportunistic lens.
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