INNOVATION September-October 2017

ecological systems. These goals will clearly connect to broader societal goals and policy, and hence are a step toward contextual goals. Chester hopes that this process will not only create an improved understanding and narrative relating to climate goals for leadership, employees, and other key stakeholders, but it should also result in improved performance by establishing a more strategic linkage with the the port authority’s long-term scenario planning and corporate vision. j This article was written with contributions from: Ronan Chester, Manager, Strategic Environmental Initiatives, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority; Rylan Dobson, Project Manager - Contextualised Strategy CoP; Dara Edmonds, Sustainability Advisor, Salal Consulting; Dr. Jamie Gray-Donald, Vice President, Sustainability, QuadReal Property Group; and Dorota Kwasnik, P.Eng., Energy Manager, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, and Vice-Chair of Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Division; with support from the Embedding Project “Road to Context” team. Join Dr. Jamie Gray-Donald and Dorota Kwasnik on October 20 at the 2017 Annual Conference to learn more about sustainability goals and tools for practising engineers and geoscientists.

Ronan Chester points out that companies require a sufficient maturity to apply systems thinking to sustainability strategy and goals. According to Chester, “Unconsciously we were working through the initial stages of the contextual goal-setting framework. Through Port 2050, we’d already done much of the big thinking. We are now working to contextualize the organization’s energy and air emissions goals within broader socio-ecological systems and societal goals.” For the port authority, work to set energy and air emissions goals will start with forecasting future energy consumption and air emissions out to 2050. It will then back-cast from the low carbon future desired in the Port 2050 Great Transition scenario to identify various pathways to decarbonization. The process will highlight the gap between the forecast and back-cast, leading to creative iterations to solve the gap. It will also consider pathways that support or align with provincial and federal greenhouse gas reduction targets including Canada’s commitment under UNFCCC, to minimizing climate change to well below the two degrees Celsius scenario. The result of these modelling efforts will be a set of emissions reductions pathways specific to the port that are situated in climate science and therefore have factored in socio-

S I NG L E TON U RQU H A RT

Clearing the Path to Success

ACO Infrastructure - Qmax

ACO Qmax offers an economical range of high flow capacity plastic slot drains for applications involving small to large catchment areas. It is spe- cifically designed to form an integral part of any modern, sustainable surface drainage solution. ACO Qmax maximises the hydraulic capacity available providing effective storage, attenuation, and eliminating carry over in stormwater conditions. In recognition of its innovative design, ACO Qmax has received many accolades including The Queen’s Award for Innovation. http://www.acoinfrastructure.us/qmax.html

t h e p r o b l e m s o l v e r s ™

areas of practice alternative dispute resolution business immigration business law

construction insurance professional liability wills and estates workplace law

commercial litigation commercial real estate

Singleton Urquhart llp 1200–925West Georgia Street Vancouver,BC V6C 3L2

T 604 682 7474 | F 604 682 1283 Toll Free 1 877 682 4404 www.singleton.com | su@singleton.com

ACO Systems, Ltd. ( 877) 226-4255 I info@acocan.ca I www.acocan.ca

I N N O V A T I O N

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7

2 7