Avison Young has become a founding partner in the Carbon Impact Initiative (CII).
The CII includes a group of building and construction firms that plan to create long-term strategies that establish low-carbon built environments in Canada. To achieve this goal, CII members say they will work with government leaders to reduce the carbon impact of commercial buildings during all stages of development, from design to operations.
“Avison Young is thrilled to be the first – and only – commercial real estate services company to join the CII,” says Mark. E. Rose, chair and CEO of the firm. “This initiative will play a key role in reducing emissions in new and existing buildings across Ontario, including office towers, shopping centres, industrial warehouses and facilities, and other commercial and residential properties.”
Rose says part of this effort “involves helping our clients reduce their carbon footprints. But our goals also include helping the commercial building sector manage its emissions responsibly for years to come – and our founding membership in the CII puts us on the path towards achieving that aim.”
The CII’s founding members include EllisDon, the original leader of the initiative, as well as BASF Canada, the Cement Association of Canada, Cisco Systems, Cricket Energy, Enbridge Gas and WSP Group.
The group has four action items:
- Build/retrofit the next generation of buildings and infrastructure to meet and surpass new performance standards;
- Develop a method for those in the industry to offset the footprint that building development, construction and operations incur;
- Through research, testing and verification, facilitate rapid industry adoption of chosen strategies; and
- Through investment and collaboration in Ontario, create economic opportunities connected to low-carbon approaches.
“This goal is significant because climate change is one of the most important issues that our industry faces today,” says Rodney McDonald, Avison Young principal and leader of the company’s Global Citizenship affinity group. “If united, leaders in our industry will not only be able to serve our clients’ sustainability goals and objectives, but also create a precedent for others in the community to follow.”
