Green Standards was delighted to attend the 14th annual Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada Gala where Corporate Knights acknowledged Gordon Campbell and Gordon Hicks for leading the way in corporate citizenship in Canada. Congratulations to both trailblazers and thanks to them for their amazing work in Canada and abroad.
Gordon Campbell received the Corporate Knights Award of Distinction for his pioneering work on British Columbia’s carbon tax, heralded by Corporate Knights as a “case study to the world for how to unlock the power of markets to deliver outcomes that are better for the environment and the economy.” The bold carbon tax, then considered a radical policy, has successfully reduced carbon emissions among families and business around the province while indirectly incentivizing alternative energy sources. The largest emitters in the province are now carrying the weight of their impact and looking for ways to reduce it.
Gordon Hicks was awarded the Greenest Chief Executive in Canada for his ongoing effort to introduce cost-effective and environmentally progressive practices for Canadian buildings. As the CEO of Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions, he has introduced energy, water and waste programs that have significantly reduced the environmental impact of the 100 million square feet managed by the company.
Both award winners, and the gala as a whole, demonstrates that the economy and the environment need not be at odds. As we continue to reimagine what is possible, and how to structure organizations and processes sustainably, the more we’re learning to pair the power of business and market drivers with critical social and environmental solutions.
As Jeremy Runnalls put it for Corporate Knights: “A decade ago, the call for this kind of progress was more easily dismissed as ‘unreasonable expectations’ of what a company can and should do. Today? It’s looking increasingly like mainstream thinking within the business community.”
