In the News
Toronto's innovative triple bottom line
By: Graeme Deans - t.o. nightToronto’s triple bottom line got a lot better last week, thanks to a groundbreaking deal between the Greening Canada Fund and the Toronto District School Board.
The concept of a triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – is a holistic way to measure the success and prosperity of a society. The “people” bottom line refers to social well-being, “planet” to the quality of the environment, and “profi t” to the strength of the economy.
In terms of the deal announced last week, “people” means the TDSB, which, since 2000, has invested $38 million in planting more trees on school grounds, drilling geothermal wells and installing solar panels in selected schools around the city. All of these investments have resulted in lower carbon emissions, which create carbon credits.
“Planet” comes from the Bank of Montreal and the Toronto-Dominion Bank which, in the absence of any government legislation on carbon reduction, decided to voluntarily set a target of becoming carbon neutral.
Which is where “profit” comes into the picture.
In addition to reducing carbon emissions within their own operations, the banks created the Greening Canada Fund, which purchases carbon credits on the banks’ behalf. In last week’s deal, the fund agreed to buy carbon credits from the TDSB for the next five years. This helps the banks to achieve their environmental goals and enables the TDSB to invest in even more green projects.
The deal is the first of its kind in Canada, and shows how innovation in the green economy can benefit a city and make a profit.
The concept of a triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – is a holistic way to measure the success and prosperity of a society. The “people” bottom line refers to social well-being, “planet” to the quality of the environment, and “profi t” to the strength of the economy.
In terms of the deal announced last week, “people” means the TDSB, which, since 2000, has invested $38 million in planting more trees on school grounds, drilling geothermal wells and installing solar panels in selected schools around the city. All of these investments have resulted in lower carbon emissions, which create carbon credits.
“Planet” comes from the Bank of Montreal and the Toronto-Dominion Bank which, in the absence of any government legislation on carbon reduction, decided to voluntarily set a target of becoming carbon neutral.
Which is where “profit” comes into the picture.
In addition to reducing carbon emissions within their own operations, the banks created the Greening Canada Fund, which purchases carbon credits on the banks’ behalf. In last week’s deal, the fund agreed to buy carbon credits from the TDSB for the next five years. This helps the banks to achieve their environmental goals and enables the TDSB to invest in even more green projects.
The deal is the first of its kind in Canada, and shows how innovation in the green economy can benefit a city and make a profit.