My Climate Smart Journey- CDN Controls

Becoming Climate Smart Certified is a journey. It is a journey to discovering and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a journey to cost savings, and a journey that helps businesses realize that every organization can make a difference to the planet’s well-being, no matter their size or industry.

So what is the Climate Smart Journey like? We asked trailblazing businesses a few questions about the process and what it’s like to become a sustainability leader through the Climate Smart program. Let’s dive in with Jennifer Ezekiel, at CDN Controls.

Meet CDN Controls!

CDN Controls sis a full-service electrical & instrumentation contractor with divisions in construction, maintenance, automation, communication, combustion & emissions reductions, control panels & systems, commercial-scale solar PV design and installation, measurement and meter proving, repair shops, and parts stores. CDN Controls has over 500 employees, contractors, and tradespeople working in 87 locations across Alberta and British Columbia. Their team has grown organically over the last 10 years and recognize that CDN’s greatest strength is their excellent personnel.

What made you decide on Climate Smart?

“As part of CDN’s evolving ESG strategy, it was important to us to focus on the emissions aspect of the ‘E’ in ESG. Given that CDN’s emissions footprint is fairly limited to a discrete number of sources, Climate Smart was a great option for us to have support in completing our inventory ourselves while also obtaining third-party verification of our inventory and reductions plan. Having CDN employees trained in the Climate Smart method is a great tool for us to continue to increase our capacity and skillset in tracking and reporting on our emissions inventory and associated reduction strategies.”

What was your Climate Smart experience like?

“Excellent! The Climate Smart program has been created and delivered in a very thoughtful manner. The associated inventory tool was very easy to use for entering and tracking our emissions data. The support of our Climate Smart advisor was invaluable in helping us to focus on areas with the most impact on our inventory and reductions plan, as well as to strategize on how to best use the data available to us in the inventory process.”

What was your biggest win with Climate Smart?

“Completing our first-ever baseline emissions inventory with a reduction plan to go with it! This will be included in our 2021 ESG Report and will be a significant addition to demonstrating our ESG performance.”

What would you say was the biggest challenge you faced?

“Creating focused time to work on our inventory. Next year, we will block off a full week to focus on the inventory with 100% of our efforts, rather than trying to ‘fit it in’ here and there over the course of a few months!”

What was the most surprising outcome of Climate Smart training?

“We were pleasantly surprised at the diversity of companies represented in the Climate Smart sessions. Having the opportunity to discuss context, challenges, and solutions with individuals from companies across many different industries and types of business operations was not only interesting but also created a very productive discussion.”

How does Climate Smart align with your company’s values?

“ESG is a core value at CDN and integrated into the way we do business. To date, we have been highly focused on ‘S’ and ‘G’ aspects and working with Climate Smart has allowed us to demonstrate our commitment to the ‘E’ metrics as well. We are a service company that self-performs all of our services for our customers, and being able to keep our greenhouse gas emissions inventory work ‘in-house’ and increase our internal capacity to do this work, is also well aligned with this approach.”

How have your employees adopted Climate Smart?

“We are in the process of communicating our final inventory and reductions plan to our employees and contractors. We are excited for them to play a significant part in the reductions plan, as well as bring forward new ideas to help CDN continue to improve on our emissions footprint. Our Idling Reduction campaign has kicked off and will be an important aspect in reducing our fleet vehicle emissions footprint.”

What motivates you to continue to get Climate Smart certified?

“CDN continues to be energy sector pioneers as we integrate ESG in our business in a tangible way. Being a leader in this space, it is important to us to have third-party verification and validation of our commitment and actions. Climate Smart provides this for us, as well as is helping us to push ourselves to a higher standard of performance on our emissions footprint.”

CDN Controls’ Climate Smart journey has only just begun, and we’re inspired by their determination and drive to make planet-positive changes.

If you’re ready to start your organization on its own Climate Smart journey and transform your business into a climate leader, our experts are ready to help you cut carbon, cut costs, and make a difference to the planet’s well-being.

Learn more about Radicle's Climate Smart Training and Certification