Small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Calgary got a boost to becoming part of the green economy on April 25, with the opening of the Green Economy Calgary hub.

The non-profit, which is a partnership between Green Economy Calgary, the City of Calgary, Alberta Ecotrust, Calgary Foundation, Natural Resources Canada, and TD Bank Group, was created to help transition SMEs into a cleaner way of doing business while helping them save on expenses.

Among the supports provided by the hub will be one-on-one support, peer-network supports, and educational resources to help businesses lower their energy use and carbon emissions.

Ryan Bates, manager of Green Economy Calgary, said that they’re looking for businesses to join the hub that value sustainability.

“Our hope is going to play a role in the diversification of our economy. A lot of the role that we’ll play are sustainable business practices that businesses will shift towards energy efficiency upgrades and looking at their energy use to shift into those sustainable business practices,” he said.

“That’s going to come with more jobs, job creation, diversifying the economy, and economic impact.”

Bates said that the support that will be provided to businesses will be comprehensive, which includes helping to measure a business’s carbon footprint and then working with them to find ways of meeting reduction goals.

Joining with other businesses for the good of the planet, and the chequebook

Businesses that join will also be part of a community that will share best practices, and ultimately working towards greater efficiency and profitability.

“Calgary is the fourth largest city in Canada, and it’s got an existing ecosystem that’s fostering innovation, moving towards the transition to a low carbon economy and future,” Bates said.

Calgary is the second Green Economy hub in Alberta, following Edmonton which opened its hub four years ago.

Pat Letizia, CEO of Alberta Ecotrust, said that as businesses have largely been left alone to address green energy issues, the hub could bring them together in a way not done in Calgary.

She said that the Green Economy Calgary hub fits the mandate of Alberta Ecotrust, by helping to direct funding towards green projects.

“We’re an environmental funder, and we did provide some funding for the launch of the initiative, and we’ve also provided some in kind support for office space and things like that to bring them into our community,” Letizia said.

“We also have a program called the climate initiative or the climate innovation fund that is in partnership with the City of Calgary and the City of Edmonton helping to support climate action and reduce emissions. Working with local businesses makes a lot of sense. We are a collaborator by nature, we’ve always been a corporate environmental partnership, and so bringing businesses into the fold I think is long overdue.”

Many of the benefits, but none of the costs of green economy consultants

A major benefit, she said, was that SMEs taking advantage of the hub wouldn’t have to hire consultants to help them green their business practices.

“It’s a place where successful initiatives are amplified and shared and so people learn from each other. Just like we all learn from our families and friends and our colleagues and the clubs we belong to, this is a really accessible way to get information that is easy to implement and really cost-effective,” Letizia said.

For the City of Calgary, helping one of the many businesses that make up one of the most small-business-populated cities in the country makes sense.

“We all have a role to play to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050, and we’re all in this together as Calgarians. That’s why we have focused on small- and medium-sized enterprises in our city to support them in this venture,” said Dick Ebersohn, Manager of Climate Mitigation at the City of Calgary.

“If we are supporting them to actually reduce their energy bills, they will also be reducing the greenhouse gas emissions.”

In doing so, Ebersohn said the city would be helping to lower operating costs for businesses and make them more sustainable.

“That makes it much more affordable for them to operate, but also put them at the forefront as an example of what can be done internationally to actually be on the forefront of climate change,” he said.

For more information, see greeneconomycalgary.ca.