While planet-conscious Torontonians fret about leaving their bedroom lights on or running the dishwasher during peak hours, they sometimes forget the environmental impact of their workplaces. Toronto's office buildings, it turns out, produce about 20 percent of the city's greenhouse gases.

 

Globally, carbon emissions are expected to double by 2030 unless something is done. Enter the Race to Reduce, a Toronto-wide contest and a world-first. Since its launch in June, more than 70 Canada's leading companies, many of them outright competitors, have signed up for the four-year commitment. A project of Greening Greater Toronto, The Race aims to get participating landlords and tenants to reduce their energy use by 10 percent.

 

Bob Gallant, program manager at Greening Greater Toronto, is in charge of getting both corporations and not-for-profits to do their part in finding solutions to climate change. To make it work, cooperation is as important as competition.

 

 

In 2009 we held an energy-use summit. Our findings revealed great room for positive change. Commercial buildings already consume 37 percent of the total electricity and 17 percent of the natural gas. Lowering these figures is doable and feasible, but we hadn't seen much action. It's hard because going green is low on most people's priority list. There isn't a financial incentive, at least initially. Typically, energy costs represent only one per cent of the cost of running an office. The biggest costs are human resources, rent, furniture, etc.

 

 

If you lower energy use, you will lower pollution, greenhouse gasses and create a better environment for your employees. So that's worth it. And there are real financial savings, too. The larger tenants can save millions of dollars.

 

 

Tenants and landlords don't usually talk after they've negotiated their leases. Often, there's mistrust between the two. Tenants fear they'll end up paying for expensive equipment upgrades, and they won't stay in the same building long enough to see the benefits. It's vice versa for landlords. It's a serious problem not just here in Toronto, but throughout the world. We provided a neutral platform for people to talk about these concerns and develop a mutual understanding.

 

 

Lots of things. Retrofitting buildings, reskinning buildings and improving their thermal envelop, operating more efficiently, lowering the air conditioning, upgrading to more efficient equipment. Bringing in cleaning staff during the day so they won't have to turn the lights on to clean at night. For example, Oxford Properties has started a midnight audit where they go around and check that everything's turned off at the witching hour.

 

 

We wanted to pick a number that was meaningful and achievable, and which wasn't a barrier for anyone signing up. Ten per cent might not sound like much but it's the equivalent of taking 18,800 cars off the road. The key is to include as many companies as possible. Once involved, many realize they can go further, and we've introduced prizes to encourage that. We'll evaluate the target as we go along, and if it's too easy, we'll reassess.

 

 

Not really. Other environmental office competitions exist, such as in Chicago and Houston. But they're different because companies compete individually, either as landlords or tenants. Ours is about the spirit of collaboration. Landlords and tenants work together, competing as a team, building against building. Together, they build trust. Sharing ideas is key, and to that end, we have regular brainstorming sessions. The Race to Reduce is unique because it encourages dialogue, and we believe that will create some truly innovative solutions.

 

 

Yes, we've had interest from Vancouver, Calgary and New York about taking this on. We're even talking about setting up a friendly competition between the cities.

 

 

When we started in May, there was an initial rush of companies, and since then there has been a steady growth. Over 70 companies have signed up, accounting for 45-million square feet of office space, representing a cross-section of the private and public sectors and not-for-profit. Some landlords, headquartered in Toronto, are introducing these green practices to the rest of their buildings nation-wide. We began just a few months ago, but the response has been really overwhelming.

 

Alexandra Shimo's first book The Environment Equation was published in seven countries and received international acclaim in Forbes magazine and the Chicago Tribune. She is currently researching her second book, based on her four-month stay on a northern First Nation's reserve, and freelance editing for Random House.