Airport, local stakeholders team up to form eco-business zone
By PETER CRISCIONE Canada's largest airport has teamed up with local stakeholders to create what authorities are calling North America's largest eco-business zone.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) launched a "green strategy" Thursday evening that will transform 12,000 hectares of industrial and commercial land around Toronto Pearson Airport into an environmentally focused business area.

Dubbed Partners in Project Green (PPG), the initiative is the culmination of more than a decade of partnership between the airport and local conservation body.

Municipal officials joined provincial politicians and other dignitaries at an official launch held on airport grounds Thursday.

"Through Partners in Project Green, TRCA will be able to continue to work with industry leaders to promote the adoption of green technology," said Brian Denney, chief administrative officer for TRCA. "The business community can do more by working together than apart. This is a historic first step to making Toronto the greenest place to do business."

The Pearson eco-business area is comprised of some 12,500 companies that employ 355,000 people, making it Canada's largest employment zone.

Every year, officials say this area uses up 5.8 million Megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, 46 million Gigajoules (GJ) of natural gas and 109 million cubic metres (m3) of water.

All this energy consumption translates into 1.7 million tones of greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere.

Part of the eco-zone initiative will aim to deliver programming to help businesses reduce resource costs and address everyday operational challenges in a green and cost-effective manner.

It will also include new development opportunities, long-term renovation, retrofit and redevelopment and the ability for businesses to partner up to identify the best green technologies for their operations.

PPG initiatives include an eco-efficiency program, green building retrofit program, sustainable transportation initiatives, green purchasing blocks, by-product exchanges and more, according to a strategy document unveiled during the official launch.

The eco-industrial approach will look to foster business-to-business networks that gain financial benefits by working together to green their bottom line, reducing the upfront costs of innovation, slashing payback times, and improving operations and building efficiency.

This approach is already being advanced around the world and views business in general as part of the local ecosystem, officials said.

"Partners in Project Green is really the first large-scale effort at addressing climate change in a renewal setting," explained Toby Lennox, GTAA vice president of corporate affairs and communications. "It's also significant because it takes an integrated approach. It doesn't just focus on energy and waste management issues - as important as they are - it also looks at green space improvements, employee health and productivity, and ultimately green jobs."

The "zone" falls under the four municipal jurisdictions of Toronto, Region of Peel, Brampton and Mississauga.

Each municipality was involved in the planning.

Also, more than 200 businesses in the area have been involved in developing the project.

According to the strategy document, PPG will be funded by its municipal partners and the GTAA, with additional funding being procured from both private and public sources.

Over time, funding for PPG will come increasingly from businesses (in the form of donations), from various provincial and federal agencies and from revenue-generating programs such as carbon trading, royalties and fees for service.

The document also notes other possible revenue sources could come in the form of municipal levies.

"This is one of the current revenue streams for TRCA. The TRCA may, with permission from its partners, direct municipal levies to PPG or specifically to a PPG initiative," reads a line in the document."

A full version of the 109-page document is available upon request or can be viewed online at www.partnersinprojectgreen.com.