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Welcome to the October issue of the Net Zero Times!
In this edition, we showcase how education and sustainability intersect to shape green communities. Read below for details on how the Waterloo Catholic District School Board is using a strategic combination of internal staff expertise, innovative financial stewardship, and deep organizational collaboration. See how Call2Recycle and Earth Rangers are expanding battery-recycling education for Canadian students, and how Trinity College is opening its zero-carbon Lawson Centre for Sustainability to the public. Plus, catch up on national news including Mark Carney’s foreign investment summit and major green building retrofits.
A $100 million investment through the Canada Infrastructure Bank will help Morgaurd modernize buildings across Canada, cut emissions by more than 35,000 tonnes annually, and improve long-term energy efficiency, in our commercial feature.
Let's work together to make this new season one of shared action and sustainable progress! Don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have a story you wish to share with our readers: @mcresswell@thomascoleinc.com
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Carney’s investment summit draws protests by Indigenous leaders, eco groups worried about leaving Canada’s economic future in the hands of CEOs
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s high-stakes pitch for foreign investment is also attracting protests by Indigenous leaders and civil society groups opposed to his agenda.
Hundreds of executives and global asset managers descended on Toronto on Monday for Canada’s first-ever national investment summit. Carney has set an ambitious goal of attracting $1 trillion in new investment over the next five years.
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The Hidden Cost of Canada’s Beautiful Warm Days
Across Canada, unusually warm and pleasant days can feel like a welcome break from winter. But these conditions often come with an environmental cost. El Niño—a natural climate pattern caused by warmer-than-usual waters in the tropical Pacific—can influence Canadian weather, especially during winter and spring. It is often associated with warmer temperatures and drier conditions across much of the country.
| | Manager of Energy Conservation and Sustainability, Waterloo Catholic DSB | | |
WCDSB takes a Collaborative Approach to Reducing Carbon Emissions
For the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB), achieving industry-leading carbon emissions reduction is not the result of a single silver-bullet technology, but rather a strategic combination of internal staff expertise, innovative financial stewardship, and deep organizational collaboration. Operating within provincial ministry capital funding frameworks, WCDSB relies on skilled internal staff to identify operational energy waste, navigate complex utility incentive structures—such as Enbridge's Pay for Performance program and Save on Energy rebates—and channel captured savings into a self-sustaining Green Revolving Fund.
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Minister MacDonald announces up to nearly $895,000 to develop and test new clean technology to benefit Canada’s indoor agriculture sector
Today, while visiting Hydragreens Produce Ltd. in Calgary, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced funding of up to $894,673 for SmartGRO Bioengineering Inc.
Building on the recently announced $3.2-billion National Food Security Strategy and its $750 million dedicated to controlled environment agriculture, this investment will help the Calgary-based start-up to develop and test new clean lighting technology to make year-round indoor agriculture more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
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NERVA Energy to support deep energy retrofits across selected Morguard properties
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has reached financial close on a $100 million loan with Morguard Corporation to enable energy‑efficient retrofits across a portfolio of approximately 30 properties in Canada.
Morguard is a fully integrated real estate firm with more than $24.2 billion in assets under management across North America. Morguard will collaborate with NERVA Energy, a multi‑disciplinary engineering firm specializing in energy performance, to design and implement the retrofit projects across the portfolio.
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Niagara Region Secures $89,000 Community Grant to Restore 4.5 Hectares of Urban Tree Canopy
Niagara Region has received more than $89,000 through the Ontario Community Environment Fund to support Growing Niagara’s Canopy, a joint project with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA). Over the next two years, the project will plant 7,125 native trees across three Regionally owned properties within the Niagara Peninsula watershed.
The project will restore more than 4.5 hectares of land to diverse deciduous forest, helping increase tree canopy, improve biodiversity, strengthen ecological resilience and support climate change mitigation and adaptation across Niagara.
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Cool Leaders, a roadmap and nature for cooling: Global Cooling Pledge acts on heat
As extreme heat becomes one of the deadliest and fastest-growing climate risks worldwide, governments, cities, industry leaders and philanthropic foundations today announced a package of new measures to accelerate action on sustainable cooling and heat resilience; among these measures are the inaugural Cool Leaders award, a global Heat Resilience Roadmap, and a Nature for Cooling Challenge.
Announced at the Global Cooling Pledge Assembly 2026 in Singapore, the measures mark a significant step in turning Global Cooling Pledge commitments into real-world action.
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🌟 Enya Law 🌟
Western student turns everyday challenges into entrepreneurial impact. From women's health to sustainability, Enya Law is redefining entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is often described as the pursuit of big ideas, but Enya Law is more interested in the smaller problems that go unnoticed – and yet, shape everyday life.
Law was drawn to health care, business and work that builds community. Rather than choosing between them, a dual degree at Western University allowed her to explore how all three can work together.
“It’s a strange intersection,” said Law, now heading into the fourth year of her dual degree in health science and honours business administration at Ivey Business School. “But that’s what I love about it. It keeps every door open.”
Looking for ways to merge her passions, Law sought out the Founders Program at the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Powered by Ivey. The Founder’s program builds skills and empowers entrepreneurs through education, mentorship, a $20,000 tuition bursary and the opportunity to grow networks on campus.
| | Right Size Your HVAC Investments Save Capital and Boost Operational Efficiency Webinar Recording | | Building Indigenous Partnerships in Climate Tech with ClimateDoor | | Major milestone in environmental efforts | | Facing a super El Niño, this scientist says we can look to the past for climate solutions | | |
The Unboxing Problem: How Campuses Are Tackling the Surge in Delivery Packaging Waste
E-commerce on campus was already climbing before 2020. Post-pandemic, it accelerated sharply. Freshman enrollment in the U.S. rose by roughly 5.5% in fall 2024, adding approximately 130,000 new students — most of them accustomed to daily online ordering. Gen Z consumers shop online at rates that would have seemed extreme a decade ago, and that behavior doesn’t pause when they move into a residence hall.
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