Torbjorn's Blog

In the first six months of the "Bag the Bag" program, IKEA Canada has reduced its Plastic Bag use by 90 per cent across the country. Last October, IKEA Canada conducted a survey with its customers and received more than 60,000 responses, which concluded that plastic bags were an environmental issue that needed action. Shortly thereafter, the retailer began charging for its plastic bags, donating

Federal and provincial policies that promote the production and use of ethanol fuel to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are misguided, according to a Commentary released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. The strategy should be reconsidered, says the study, since the net environmental benefits of ethanol fuel are uncertain, and the costs to consumers and governments are high.

In The Ethanol

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says he doesn't think the Green Shift environmental company is being hurt by his party's use of the same name for its carbon tax policy and "it will be OK."

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TD Canada Trust has announced an agreement with Bullfrog Power and The Pembina Institute through which the bank will annually purchase 6,432 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean, renewable power from emission-free generation sources such as wind power and low-impact water power. This renewable electricity will match the power used by the TD Green Machine network of nearly 2,600 Automated Bank Machines

Starting this month, IKEA will only sell and serve certified coffee at all its stores and offices globally. To ensure that all coffee sold and served at IKEA is produced under socially and environmentally responsible conditions, IKEA has decided to strictly use UTZ Certified coffee. UTZ Certified is an independent not-for-profit organization that sets a standard for responsible coffee growing and

More than 8 billion disposable cups are thrown out every year in Canada., according to Change The World For Ten Bucks: 50 Ways To Make A Difference. Buy a resuable mug for your coffee

CIBC is taking a major step towards preserving Canada's boreal forest by switching its office paper supply to FSC-certified paper. This includes copy, printer and fax office paper, and also client statements, statement envelopes, ABM envelopes, and annual reports. CIBC also has cut its office paper purchases by 22 per cent since 2004 by implementing environmental best practices.

On April 1, CIBC switched its office copy, printer, and fax paper to FSC-certified stock, equivalent to approximately 365 million sheets a year, across its Canadian operations.

Annually, CIBC is transitioning to FSC-certified stock:

            -   203 million sheets of client account statement paper

            -   116 million statement envelopes

            -   76 million ABM envelopes

CIBC has printed its annual report on FSC-certified paper since 2006. 

FSC is an international certification and labeling system that guarantees that purchased forest products come from responsibly managed forests. Under FSC certification, forests are certified against a set of strict environmental and social standards, and fibre from certified forests is tracked all the way to the consumer through the chain of custody certification system. The end result is products in the marketplace carrying the FSC logo.

FSC certification helps protect the long-term health of boreal forests found in Canada, Russia, United States, and Scandinavia. Canada's boreal forest, which covers more than one-third of our landmass, is the largest intact forest remaining on the planet, rivaling the Amazon in size and ecological importance. It stores twice as much carbon per acre as tropical rainforests, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Visiit: www.cibc.com.

A national magazine picked Planet Organic Markets as the top organic food retailer across Canada.

The survey of 14 major grocery retailers by Corporate Knights magazine gave Planet Organic an overall "Excellent" rating or an 'A', while Planet's most direct competitor, Whole Foods, garnered second spot with a 'B+'.

Other major retailers such as Loblaws, Safeway and Sobeys came in with distant 'C' ratings, meaning they were either "showing potential" with their organic food retail sections or were "average."

Corporate Knights magazine is distributed in a variety of ways across the country and specifically through the May 1st edition of the Globe and Mail. The magazine rated all of the 14 food retailers in five categories, ranging from the amount of local organic foods they carried, to consumer education and in-store conservation initiatives.

Visit: www.planetorganic.ca

Hudson's Bay Company (Hbc) has entered into a three year partnership with Canadian companies The Global Group and Harkel Office Furniture to furnish its newly redesigned head office in Brampton, Ontario, with eco-friendly products.

Hbc and The Global Group are Canada's largest companies in their respective fields. Harkel Office Furniture has a 28 year history of providing superior service in this country. This partnership is one of the largest of its kind in the Canadian market place. This announcement helps mark Hbc's 338th anniversary.

Through this partnership, The Global Group will manufacture eco-friendly furnishing for approximately 1200 new work units in Hbc's Brampton office. Harkel Office Furniture will distribute and service the office furnishings. Harkel is expected to have all the furnishings installed at the Brampton office by the Winter 2009. The newly designed office will house Hbc's buyers and retail operations personnel.

The primary products to be provided are manufactured out of recycled aluminum. These products will not get dumped in the landfill at the end of their lifespan. They are designed to be easily recycled to create new aluminum products.

The partnership signifies Hbc's ongoing commitment to social responsibility embodied in its Global Mind brand, which promotes social and environmental sustainability in its policies, processes and products.

In line with its strong commitment towards preserving the environment, the philanthropic arm of GE, the GE Volunteers India launched a tree plantation drive "Green Environment" in partnership with the Defense Services.

More than 20 volunteers from the Delhi chapter of GE Volunteers India actively participated in the drive flagged off by Mr. William Blair, the Country Director of GE Aviation, India and Chairman, Delhi Chapter, GE Volunteers India. Around 2,000 saplings of different trees like Ashoka, Silver Oak, Arjuna, Bottle Brush, Alistonia and Jamun were planted across the Army Cantonment area.

Elaborating on GE’s commitment towards environmental conservation, Mr. Blair said, “This is part of GE’s effort to bring our teams together and give back to the community where we work and live. The tree plantation is an excellent initiative to increase the green cover, which is great for the community and positively impacts our environment”.

The GE Volunteers India comprises of GE employees and retirees who help improve their community by donating time and money to community based projects. More than 4,000 GE volunteers are currently engaged in over 40 on-going projects and 25 one-day events across the country.

Each region has a separate council of people dedicated to GE’s CSR projects. These teams of four to six people work with various project leaders to arrange funding from the business. Focusing on areas like education, environment and healthcare, the project activities range from cleaning, painting schools, blood donations and tree plantations to visiting visually challenged institutes and orphanages and donating toys and books.