Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dr. Dianne Saxe, will provide an overview of her 2016 greenhouse gas (GHG) Progress Report, Facing Climate Change. The Commissioner will summarize recent climate science on the urgent threat climate change poses to our planet and our province; Ontario's current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and what the provincial government is doing to reduce emissions. Although Ontario has taken important steps, including putting a price on most Ontario GHG emissions, much more needs to be done, both by the government and by all Ontarians.

Bruce Lazenby, Head of Business Development at the Regional Group of companies (moderator)
Andrew McAllan, Head of Real Estate Management at Oxford Properties Group
William R MacGowan, Director, Smart Building Digitization for Cisco’s Industry
David Chernushenko, Ottawa City Councillor

“Hacking” was a term created to mean inappropriate ways to access computers. Since that definition, “hacking” now means crazy and outrageous ways of doing things to disrupt the conventional. For example Growth Hacking is often used in tech companies to find crazy ways to grow quickly – new and disruptive. Can hacking shape our city?

In Ottawa our tech sector is the hottest in the country and as a result unemployment is almost zero.  So what can we do to Growth Hack Ottawa, create efficiencies and cut our carbon footprint and make sure that every person who should be living and working in Ottawa is? What do we need to look like as a city to be “crazy” attractive?

There is hardly a city anywhere in North America that does not identify Sustainability as one of the guiding principles behind their respective land planning objectives. However, upon examination of actual practice, the evidence suggests that environmental considerations play a relatively minor role in what, where and how buildings are constructed in our cities.

To achieve Ontario’s 2050 carbon reduction goals of 80% below 1990 levels, we will have to rethink how we plan our cities and the role of energy generation and consumption in each and every community. Current LEED Platinum Standards will have to become the baseline and not the goal if we are to reduce GHG emissions from the Buildings Sector in Ontario. “Master Planning” will have to include comprehensive energy strategies that disregard fiefdoms and cross over boundaries of City Departments, Agencies Boards and Commissions to eliminate the need for fossil fuel generated energy in our communities.

The Carbon Impact Initiative (CII) was launched in 2016 to stand as the defining industry-led action plan with the resources needed to respond to provincial and federal climate change objectives. The CII is unique in that it is managed by a Consortium of industry leaders from some of the largest and most influential companies across Canada’s buildings, energy, and infrastructure sectors. The CII is a systems approach to establishing a low-carbon built environment in Canada, bringing proven industry expertise to designing and constructing hyper-efficient buildings and green infrastructure, integrating innovative smart/clean energy technologies, adopting low- carbon materials, conserving resources, and exploring ways to retrofit and adapt existing building stock to meet new performance targets.

Balancing a company’s social, environmental and financial responsibilities, or “Triple Bottom Line”, is a critical component of successful business practices. Through globally recognized as important by C-Suites, many social or environmental investments are overlooked or refused funding – even with positive projected ROIs. Though stakeholders and reasons vary for these overlooked investments there is one consistent element: how we consider and manage risks. In this presentation, we will explore how the concept of risk management as the starting point for successful integration of the triple bottom line into business. Through a lens of risk mitigation, Ms. Labelle will help identify the true needs of our decision makers, as necessary to create positive and sustainable change.

There is increasing recognition that investments in new and existing buildings are amongst the most cost effective responses to climate change, with strong financial returns and significant potential for new jobs. Regulations and policies specifically targeted at the building industry are being developed, at a time when the green building industry itself is maturing. This session will explore the role of buildings in climate change strategies, addressing the true potential for buildings to contribute to GHG reductions, and the hurdles to realizing this potential. The CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Buildings initiative, which aims to redefining how building performance is assessed, will be introduced.

Brought to you by the Ottawa Chapter CaGBC

The ICT sector is highly innovative and responsive to consumer trends, making it well positioned to advance sustainability performance within the industry and throughout its complex supply chains. With attraction and retention of top talent a key focus for the industry - sustainability is becoming a differentiator. Josh Hendry of Anthesis Group will explore leading examples from a range of ICT companies (e.g., Cisco, Salesforce, HP, Amazon) to explore ICT's support and development of renewable energy production and responsible sourcing programs and the environmental and social performance impacts and benefits of the “Internet of Things”, drone technologies and autonomous vehicles.

Improving the well-being of everyone can only be accomplished through joint action and initiatives to drive new clean technologies within the retrofits and new builds moving forward in Ottawa. This presentation focuses on the challenges of clean technology growth in Ottawa and includes an overview of how all three levels of government are collectively working to support the clean technology ecosystem. Highlights of the innovative projects that are taking place here in Ottawa such as green buildings, and Canadian innovations abroad which are modernizing our industrial landscape and improving our collective sustainability will also be provided.

Cara MacMillan, Halcyon Consulting Group
Nicholas Reichenbach, Flow Water
Jay Smith, Algonquin College
Milla Craig, Millani Perspectives

Is your business strategy, your Human Resource management strategy, your marketing strategy and your investment portfolio ready for the next wave?

Join Cara MacMillan, Nicholas Reichenbach, Jay Smith and Milla Craig as they discuss Corporate Social Responsibility as a growth strategy to attract top talent, top customers and capital. Cara MacMillan is an expert in strategy and innovation. Nicholas Reichenbach is CEO of Flow Water – Canada’s sustainable water company. Nicholas will discuss the sustainability as a key customer demand and his entrepreneurial commitment to building sustainable companies. Jay is a Professor and Coordinator of Environmental Studies at Algonquin College. He will share the strategic direction of education, and what top students are looking for in employers. Milla Craig is a recognized international leader in Socially Responsible Investing. Milla will discuss why institutional and consumer investors are demanding both financial and societal returns for their portfolios.

Have recent geopolitical events threatened the global trend toward sustainability? We will review recent geopolitical events and argue that we remain in the midst of multi-decade shifts within economic sectors, and therefore thematic investing remains an essential tool for investors to benefit from long term trends in sustainability.

Jeanne Medland, Director of Sustainability KingSett Capital
Trevor Gilbert, Manager, Sustainability KingSett Capital
Fin MacDonald, Sustainability Analyst, Morrison Hershfield

Learn how to unlock the potential of Class B properties through sustainability. Maximize the property’s economic, environmental, and long term potential by knowing where you stand within the market, what you can do, and what you can do better. The presentation will investigate how to add value and improve leasing and market perception through energy, carbon, water efficiency and green certification. The presentation will also explore “future proofing” a property through continuous process refinement, collecting and analyzing feedback, and preparation for increasingly stringent government environmental policies.

Tomasz Smetny-Sowa - Senior Program Director, Energy Services Acquisition PWGSC
Scott Demark - Partner, Windmill Development Group

Leading European Cities have developed a thermal platform to allow them to give preference to carbon neutral heating and cooling sources for the majority of their buildings. In Ottawa and Gatineau, Windmill Development and the Government of Canada are looking at carbon neutral sources for downtown buildings. Come and learn more about how biomass, bio-oil, green natural gas, energy from waste, waste industrial heat and even solar and wind power can transform district energy into the killer app in the fight against climate change. Leave with a better understanding of the pros and cons of each of these alternative energy sources and how district systems will make it easy for public, private and high density residential units to become low carbon buildings.

Sustainability at IKEA is based on our vision and business foundations. That means putting people first, helping the many make a difference without leaving their home, and creating positive changes within our community. Our People & Planet Positive strategy has enabled us to put words into action and move closer to our vision of a better everyday life for the many people.

Brought to you by EnviroCentre-Carbon613

Ian Capstick, Social Entrepreneur, Political Analyst and MediaStyle Founding Partner (moderator)
Nuno Duarte, Vice President, Professional Services, Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (Brookfield GIS)
Shannon Gorman, National Director of Community Affairs for TELUS
Steve Beauchesne, CEO and co-founder of Beau’s Brewing Company

If climate/thought leaders from business went on a camping trip or gathered at a cottage what would they talk about around the campfire that evening?

Yes, we all have heard the term “fireside chat,” we are planning on bringing this to extreme reality with a truly Canadian twist. As part of the Rideau Heritage Route, we will be hosting the participants in Royal Rideau Chairs sitting around a campfire, “Bubba Mugs” in hand. The screen behind will feature iconic Canadian wildness videos and imagery that has been provided by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). The audience will experience firsthand what climate leaders would talk about during a warm Canadian evening with friends gathered around a fire. An idyllic Canadian scene without the mosquitoes.