HRM Launches ‘CEO Climate Action Charter’
HALIFAX – Halifax Regional Municipality and Halifax Partnership have launched a new charter aimed at getting private companies to pledge to better protect the environment.
The CEO Climate Action Charter was created with the help of business leaders across Halifax. It encourages signatories to “take meaningful climate action using the unique operational levers of their respective organizations, while demonstrating leadership to our community.”
CEOs that sign the voluntary document agree to 10 pledges that include things like embedding climate goals in their organization’s values, tracking and sharing their progress, and making climate action part of their business decisions.
Some big names in the Halifax business community have already signed onto the charter. According to the Halifax Partnership, founding signatories include Dalhousie University, Deloitte, Emera, Lindsay Construction, and several others.
“The role of the private sector in advancing climate action is imperative to reaching our collective goals,” Lindsay Construction President and CEO Cory Bell said in a news release. “As business and community leaders, we have a shared responsibility to make changes and take meaningful actions to increase Halifax’s environmental sustainability and resiliency.”
The charter has been embedded in Halifax’s five-year Inclusive Economic as part of the plan’s objective to increase the city’s environmental sustainability and resiliency.
The Halifax Partnership says the charter will “support the growth of the green economy and materially reduce carbon emissions” by fostering collaboration between business and municipal leaders.
The complete list of the founding signatories includes:
- Dalhousie University
- Davis Pier
- Deloitte
- Eastern College
- Eastward Energy
- EfficiencyOne
- Emera Inc.
- Events East
- EY
- Halifax Partnership
- Halifax International Airport Authority
- Halifax Port Authority
- Halifax Regional Municipality
- LED Roadway
- Lindsay Construction
- Nova Scotia Community College
- Nova Scotia Power
- St. Mary’s University
The ten pledges of the charter are:
- We do the right thing: We embed climate goals into our organization’s culture and values;
- We do what we say: We track and share our climate action goals and initiatives;
- We learn and adapt: We actively share best practices and mentor to progress our climate goals in an ever-changing and highly complex world;
- We support an equitable transition to a green economy: We work together to create solutions that are accessible for all;
- We work together: We leverage our influence and networks to remove barriers and enable progress for collective success;
- We are all part of the solution: We empower people to be climate leaders;
- We communicate with government about the impacts of policy: We participate in two-way communication between government and industry to best enable our abilities to progress climate action;
- We help climate action innovators: We find ways to support new ideas and solutions that accelerate climate action;
- We embed climate action in business decisions: We acknowledge climate action as a business imperative and include climatet hinking in business and organizational decisions;
- We signal action: We commit to being vocal about our climate action initiatives to encourage all businesses, organizations and leaders to adopt meaningful, climate-focused change.