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Toronto—The Carbon Economy Summit, organized by CanadianManufacturing.com, took place June 6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The event drew more than 200 sustainability professionals, suppliers, manufacturing and supply chain executives.
Speakers from organizations such as Heenan Blaikie, the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium, PepsiCo Foods Canada, Rogers Communications and Natural Resources Canada shared ideas on climate change preparedness, energy conservation and sustainable communication.
See highlights of the day in photos, below.
Related: Carbon mitigation for fun and profit…who knew?
Alan Fair, executive director of the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium (OSTC), said intellectual property barriers will no longer impede industry collaboration on reclamation research. A new tailings roadmap study—coming out June 2012—examined more than 400 possible technologies to deal with tailings.
Dr. Blair Feltmate, chair of the Climate Change Adaptation Project (Canada), identified industries and areas facing the highest risks related to changing weather patterns. He said contrary to popular perception, adaptation does not have to be expensive, and businesses should put a formal plan in place.
In the face of a lack of regulations, carbon reduction falls to business leaders, said Bruce Dudley (left), senior vice-president of the Delphi Group in Ottawa. Luc Robitaille (right), corporate director of environment with Holcim (Canada) Inc. provided the perspective of an industrial company at the forefront of carbon policy discussions.
More than 200 sustainability professionals, service providers, consultants, supply chain and manufacturing executives attended the event to network and take in the keynote and breakout sessions.
Tom Markowitz, who worked for nearly 30 years with the Ontario government (left) gave a talk on accessing provincial energy incentives, and curbing consumption via audits and retrofits. Craig Haney, director of marketing with Energent Inc. (Waterloo, Ont.) talked about the value of real-time energy use data.
Leave no trace has become the mantra of PepsiCo Foods Canada, according to Helmi Ansari, director of sustainability and organizational capability. The company has reduced packaging, cut waste and is fueling production with cogenerated power. Ansari gave a talk on the corporate role in combating global poverty, water shortages and climate change.
Calculating the impact of the corporate supply chain can be complex, given all the inputs such as water, energy, land use and raw materials. Hicham Elhalaby, senior manager of environment and sustainability with Rogers Communications Inc. shared tools and insights to gather and analyze the necessary data.
When marketing sustainable products, avoid vague environmental claims, cautioned Wendy Reed, co-chair of the marketing and advertising law group with Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto (left). Instead, she advised marketers to indicate the specific environmental attribute, and ensure the claim can withstand consumer and competitive challenges.
Attendees caught up with old contacts and made new ones during the networking breaks.
Attendees at the co-located Sustainability Bootcamp for Business Leaders (organized by Leapfrog Sustainability) enjoyed small-group sessions on financial, consumer and competitive drivers of corporate responsibility.
Working it out: Bootcamp delegates broke into small groups for interactive idea-exchange and learning.
