After releasing its first and consecutive Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reports, Pomerleau, one of Canada’s largest construction companies, is collaborating with several organizations to implement sustainable practices within the industry and beyond. Read about some of the company’s partnerships below.
Tree Canada Partnership
To support, the Grow Clean Air program, which seeks to support best practices in forest management led by coastal First Nations communities living in the Great Bear Rainforest, Pomerleau donated $15,000 to Tree Canada. The First Nations’ eco-system-based forest management practices prevent the release of the carbon that the trees have already sequestered and that they continue to store. The project enables communities to sell carbon credits and generate revenue to create jobs in sustainable sectors and protect their traditional territories.
Pomerleau employees also raised money for Tree Canada while preparing for the company’s collaborative team event, The Pomerleau Challenge. These proceeds are also being used to regenerate forests. The wood used for the construction of the various events will have a second life and will be reused by Bishop’s University and the organization, Rêve nourricier, to build planters for urban agriculture.
Pomerleau’s partnership with Tree Canada is a testament to its dedication to forming more intentional, respectful and sensitive relationships with Indigenous businesses and communities by adopting an engagement policy and a concrete roadmap to maximize Indigenous participation in its projects.
Electric Vehicle Program
Since January, Pomerleau’s employees have had access to a monetary compensation of up to $2,000 to facilitate the acquisition of an electric or hybrid vehicle.
This program is designed to encourage employees to adopt more sustainable modes of transportation as a means of contributing to the ecological transition Pomerleau is undertaking to fight climate change. It will also reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by work-related travel of employees. Over the next year, the company will track the emissions saved by this program.
This program comes in conjunction with Pomerleau’s commitment to reducing its GHG emissions as it works to transition to a net-zero world. The builder’s goal is to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% by 2030, with 2021 as the reference year. To support this target, Pomerleau also aspires to electrify 75% of its fleet of site vehicles by 2025.
Six Key Partnerships
One of Pomerleau’s goals is to help lead the transition to a low-carbon economy, which can’t be done alone. The company is executing a concrete action plan and proactive approach in collaboration with peers, industry experts and research chairs, including Polytechnique Montreal, the Climate Montreal Partnership, the Canadian Green Building Council, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, Quebec Business Council on the Environment, and the Conseil québécois des entreprises en efficacité énergétique to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by the construction industry.
Establishment of Sustainable Construction Group
Collaboration first comes from within. To facilitate the operationalization of the company’s ESG strategy on its sites and to consolidate its expertise in delivering sustainable projects, Pomerleau created a new team that includes sustainable construction experts. The team’s mandate is to respond to the rapid growth in the number of projects seeking sustainable certification, to deploy concrete decarbonization and circular economy initiatives on sites and to develop an expertise in sustainable construction materials and methods.
Haleco Gets a Second Life
Pomerleau is building partnerships in an effort to contribute to the circular economy. Following the deconstruction of buildings on the site of the Haleco project in Montreal, several components, including faucets, hardware and doors, were given to Architecture sans frontières, an organization that helps communities around the world affected by natural disasters and social inequalities. Pomerleau also collaborated with arborists and the Centre de valorisation du bois urbain, a social economy enterprise, to transform ash trees into hardwood flooring.
Reforestation of Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville
To protect wildlife and practice circular economy principles, Pomerleau collaborated with the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec. As a part of the renovation of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine tunnel, the two organizations partnered together to reforest part of the Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville. The reforestation project is a part of the measures Pomerleau is deploying to mitigate the environmental impacts of ongoing construction activities on the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel project, particularly in terms of biodiversity.
To encourage the circularity of goods and materials and reduce the environmental footprint of its operations, Pomerleau’s strategy relies on reducing its resource consumption, and protecting the ecosystems that generate them as well as reusing, recycling, or reconsidering the value of existing materials. The builder wants to green its value chain by focusing on accounting for residual materials to better manage them and integrating circular economy principles into its procurement processes.
Together, with partners Pomerleau is shaping the future of construction and the planet by making it greener.
