Working with the City of Edmonton to reduce greenhouse gas emissions shows that industry and government can collaborate on solutions

As a founding member of the City of Edmonton’s Corporate Climate Leaders program, Lafarge Canada Inc. (Lafarge) is optimistic about the reality of a low carbon future. Under the umbrella of the City of Edmonton’s climate initiative programs, Lafarge developed a greenhouse gas inventory baseline and set clear and achievable reduction targets. Lafarge has shown leadership and continued support of city programs over the years demonstrating how local community and businesses can lead Edmonton's energy transition.

“Lafarge has been a great example of the leadership we will need from the industry if we are to meet our goals around climate change in our city,” said City of Edmonton Councillor Ben Henderson. “Having a company like Lafarge set an early example of what is possible is critical in getting us down the road of transition to a carbon-neutral world that we will have to follow."

Lafarge participated in three of the City of Edmonton’s climate initiative programs: the City of Edmonton’s Corporate Climate Leaders program, the Building Energy Retrofit Accelerator Rebate Program, and the City of Edmonton Energy Benchmarking program. As a part of this endeavour, Lafarge benchmarked the energy consumption (natural gas and electricity) of its participating buildings with over 400 local (Edmonton) buildings. From there, and with the help of a rebate from the Building Energy Retrofit Accelerator program, Lafarge completed a lighting conversion project at their Winterburn shop - with significant impacts. This operation reduced energy consumption by 33% and increased lighting by 1400%. The baseline paired with small changes led to tangible successes with energy and GHG reduction, increased safety, and decreased utility costs year over year.

Engaging stakeholders and taking a bottom-up approach has been the key driver in challenging conventions while mastering the basics. “We are proof that sustainable business is good business, and we saw that from our work with the Corporate Climate leaders. Working with the City of Edmonton on hitting these energy reduction targets has shown practical ways that we can contribute to the green economy,” says Prez Skiba, Lafarge Canada Vice President and General Manager of Central and Northern Alberta.

The City of Edmonton hopes to grow the program further from its existing 56 member organizations working in diverse industry sectors. Lafarge’s leadership provides a concrete example that climate initiative programs are successful. Says Henderson, “Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions as a community depends on all segments of our city to step up." Lafarge has taken that step and hit the ground running.

About Lafarge Canada Inc.

Lafarge is Canada’s largest provider of sustainable construction materials and a member of the global group, LafargeHolcim. With 6,000 employees and 350 sites across Canada, our mission is to provide construction solutions that build better cities and communities. The cities where Canadians live, work and raise their families along with the community’s infrastructure benefit from the solutions provided by Lafarge consisting of aggregates, asphalt and paving, cement, precast concrete, ready-mix concrete, and road construction. www.lafarge.ca

About The City of Edmonton’s Corporate Climate Leaders Program

A program to help corporations take action on climate change through active greenhouse gas (GHG) management across their operations. Edmonton’s Corporate Climate Leaders Program supports the growing number of Edmonton organizations that are concerned about climate change and want to take action. https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/environmental/corporate-climate-leaders.aspx

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210412005959/en/

As a founding member of #YEG's Corporate Climate Leaders program, Lafarge Canada is working with the city to lead programs reducing energy consumption - showing our neighbours and peers that small changes can really add up! #BuiltGreen #BuiltForAll