Clean50 support for Canadian leadership at Paris climate talks
Nov 23rd, 2015 8:32 AM
(
Toronto, November 23, 2015) In advance of the United Nations Conference of the Parties 21 (COP 21) convening in Paris next week, over 80 members of Canada’s Clean50 as well as over 60 of the organizations that employ them, have made public a
letter to Canada’s delegation. The delegation includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna and Premiers attending COP 21. The letter encourages the delegation to take significant steps to raise Canada’s commitment to fighting climate change, and then work together to create an action plan to meet those targets.
The message, drafted at the Clean50 Summit in September, highlights the risks of doing nothing, which includes “significant impact on our economy, weather, infrastructure, forests, fisheries and food supply” - and the considerable opportunities for Canada and our growing clean tech industry in a low carbon economy. It then asks Canadian leadership delegates to COP21 to:
- “Please act now: Set appropriate national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Canada can again be a leader.
- Create a national sustainable development plan. Put in place strong policies that ensure we meet those targets, including a price on pollution, and incentives that accelerate adoption of cleaner choices”.
Each of the signatories made significant personal and / or corporate contributions to enable the letter to be published nationally. It will be appearing on the front page of a Special Clean50 section in the Globe and Mail on Tuesday November 24th, profiling an array of Clean50 Award winners.
Signatories come from all sectors of Canada’s economy, including senior executives from multi-national manufacturers such as HP and Unilever, retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op, real estate companies Brookfield Global and Trioveste, large financial institutions, including Desjardins and others, together with numerous small-medium enterprises, energy producers, law firms, major electrical utilities. ENGOs such as Environmental Defence and Climate Reality, venture capital firms, and Universities including McGill, Simon Fraser, and the Universities of Ottawa and British Columbia are also represented.
More information at
www.clean50.com. A full copy of the Open Letter can be found
here.
Media Contact:
Clean50 Executive Director Gavin Pitchford: 416-564-8627 |
gpitchford@deltamanagement.com
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About Clean50: The Clean50 Awards were created by “green professionals” and clean-tech search firm Delta Management Group in 2011 to annually recognize the 50 individual Canadian leaders who had done the most to advance sustainability in Canada over the prior two years. Honourees are drawn from 16 categories representing every segment of the economy, from environmental advocates and academics, to manufacturers, retailers and bankers. Members of the Clean50 gather each year to collaborate and share learnings at the Clean50 Summit in Toronto.
Selected from the over 500 nominees each fall based upon the original nomination, detailed submissions made by nominees, external research by Delta Management, and with the help of a team of expert third party advisors, there have now been 5 iterations of the awards, and current honourees include Premiers Philippe Couillard and Kathleen Wynne, TD Bank Chief Environment Officer Karen Clarke-Whistler, and UniLever Canada CEO John Le Boutillier. The award is sponsored by Delta Management, HP, TD Bank, Staples, Bullfrog Power, Globe 2016 Leadership Conference and the Globe & Mail.
Additional Awards recognize 10 Emerging Leaders and the Top15 Sustainability Projects each year.
