The University of Toronto & the School of the Environment’s, Environmental Finance Advisory Committee (EFAC) are pleased to present: Carbon Markets and Climate Finance: Alternative-Financing Paths to a Low-Carbon Future; The University of Toronto’s Path Forward.
Please join us in our inaugural “UC3” climate change forum where we continue our previous conversations on rapidly evolving carbon markets and related opportunities and financing challenges.
Carbon markets and climate finance continue to rapidly evolve and present major opportunities and financing challenges to an array of market participants.
University of Toronto as a Case Study
Using the University of Toronto as an example of a cap and trade “covered emitter” with a public commitment to meet aggressive emissions reduction targets, the conference will focus on identifying the various financing options and market mechanisms currently and prospectively available to organizations such as the U of T.
Emphasis will be placed on identifying alternative paths that represent future potential sources of climate finance for leading market participants such as the university sector. Touching on Green/Climate Bonds, structured finance, carbon market activities, innovative leverage strategies and more, the goal is to identify a broad array of ways to finance U of T’s GHG emission reduction commitments, making use of both public and private market funding sources.
Sessions
The morning sessions will begin with an overview of international market developments, followed by a review of the federal government’s backstop and carbon pricing requirements. This will be followed by a deeper dive into Ontario’s growing carbon and climate finance market, with a strong focus on the impact of the June 7 Ontario election results on the path forward. After a panel discussion of climate finance strategies, the morning will end with an overview of the City of Toronto’s greenhouse gas reduction and climate finance plans, which will serve to highlight various financing options.
Lunch Speaker: University of California Representative on UC’s Carbon Neutral 2025 Pledge
Over lunch a representative of the University of California will share information on UC’s remarkable climate progress and commitment to Carbon Neutrality by 2025 and to the international University Climate Change Coalition.
The afternoon will begin with a comprehensive overview of the U of T’s commitment to achieve a 37% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2030, equivalent to approximately 60,000 tonnes of emissions over the three campuses.
Having recently joined UC3, U of T is committed to collaborate with community, business leaders, elected officials and other stakeholders to improve sustainability and reduce or potentially eliminate emissions across the entire university infrastructure, including the downtown St. George campus (which is a “mandatory participant” emitter under the current Ontario cap-and-trade system), Mississauga and Scarborough campuses.
However, success in achieving U of T’s emission reduction goal is likely dependent on U of T being able to access other sources of capital to leverage existing financial contributions from the Province of Ontario’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account, the account into which money from the auction of allowances is placed. Financing requirements to meet the University of Toronto’s aggressive carbon reduction goals to and beyond 2030 may require somewhere between $150 and $300 Million in additional capital finance over that period.
University staff will be laying out these challenges in detail and, with the active participation of a panel of experts as well as conference attendees, we will explore a broad array of existing and emerging financing options. Given the scale of the financial requirements, emphasis on the use of offsets, retrofit programs, co-generation and clean tech programs, among other potential finance structures and instruments, will be explored.
The goal of this conference is to engage the broadest possible group of stakeholders to identify the many paths possible to reduce emissions and creatively finance these various undertakings. Moreover, U of T’s experience can serve as a pilot to identify and create paths forward for other institutions to develop similar greenhouse gas reductions and climate finance programs.
By way of background, a link to more detailed information concerning the U of T’s commitment to UC3 is found below:
Date: Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Time: 8:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, Charbonnel Lounge, Elmsley Hall, 81 St Mary Street, M5S 1J4 Toronto (South of Bloor and East of Bay Street)
PROGRAM DETAILS:
MORNING
8:15 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Registration and Refreshments
8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
Introduction:
Dr. Kimberly Strong, Director, School of the Environment, University of Toronto
Remarks:
Dr. Meric Gertler, President, University of Toronto, to provide welcoming remarks and introduce the University of Toronto’s commitment to the international University Climate Change Coalition (UC3)
9:15 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Tiff Macklem, Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Chair of the Canadian government’s recently-formed Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance and former Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada. [TBC]
9:30 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.
Carbon Market Overview
Speaker:
Katie Sullivan, Managing Director, IETA
Dominant Currents in International Carbon Markets & Climate Change Legislation: Who is leading and what are they doing?
The Canadian Commitment: Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.
10:10 a.m. - 10: 45 a.m.
Focus on Ontario and Linked Markets: Challenges and Opportunities within the regulatory carbon market and developing voluntary carbon market.
Speaker:
Patricia Koval, member of the Environmental Finance Advisory Committee of the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Break – Refreshments
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Climate Finance: Practical Levers to Deploy Capital to reduce GHG Emissions
Moderator:
Gray Taylor
Panel Members:
Paul Martin, CPA, Director of Business Operations, Western University
William (Bill) J. Murphy, National Leader, Climate Change & Sustainability Services, KPMG
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Spotlight on the City of Toronto: How Toronto is implementing and financing GHG emission reduction programs – now and in the future
Speaker:
Jim Baxter, Director, Energy & Strategic Initiatives, City of Toronto
• the design and goals of Transform TO
• Toronto's Green Bond issue
• value of the Cap and Trade forum to Toronto’s work
• carbon credits as way to raise funding
• how Toronto utilizes recoverable debt financing to keep energy efficiency retrofits from counting towards the City's mandated debt ceiling
• use of local improvement charges as a tool for financing
• partnering with private capital and
• how municipal policy and regulations can and do drive availability of financing
12:00 Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch Speakers: The UC3 Challenge – What is it and how UC and others are responding, including the UC 2025 carbon neutral commitment
Speakers:
Matt St. Clair, Director of Sustainability, UC Office of the President or David Phillips, Associate Vice President for Energy and Sustainability, UC
AFTERNOON
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Laying out the University of Toronto Climate Challenge – Retrofit, Conversion and Greenfield Programs & Financing Requirements.
Speaker:
Paul Leitch, Director of Sustainability, U of T
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Creative Finance: An Overview of the Financing Instruments available for use by organizations, with specific Recommendations for U of T (i.e. University-issued “Green Bonds”, Carbon Offsets, Climate funds, Venture Capital, etc.
Moderator TBA:
Panel Members:
Chris Snyder, Senior Director, CIBC
David Berliner, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Power
Rob Keen, Executive Director, Forests Ontario
Shaaj Vijay, Debt Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets
Bryce Conacher, Director, Global Marketing, Brookfield Renewables TBC
2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Break
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Public “Town Hall” Discussion – Conference attendees will be encouraged to actively participate in these discussions, with interactive opportunities to ask questions and offer suggestions and recommendations to achieve these goals.
Moderator:
Professor John Robinson, Presidential Advisor on the Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability, U of T
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Response to Discussions and Recommended Paths Forward
Speaker:
Scott Mabury, Vice President, University Operations, U of T
4:30 p.m.
Adjournment
Speaker:
Dr. Kimberly Strong – Thank-you to all Participants
Note: To maximize the participation of conference attendees, university GHG emissions data will be made available through a dedicated website link, for potential financing solutions and programs to be identified by conference participants up-front.
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