BUSINESS
CAREERS

Greening the law office

ELAINE WILTSHIRE
According to Greening Greater Toronto,
an initiative from the Toronto City Summit
Alliance, commercial buildings—like those
that house some of Canada’s top law
firms—account for approximately one-third
of greenhouse gas emissions in the Greater
Toronto Area (GTA). Commercial buildings
also consume 37 per cent of the electricity
and 17 per cent of the natural gas.
“There’s lots of attention paid to residential
programs that promote recycling and energy
efficiency,” says Linda Weichel, managing dir-
ector of Greening Greater Toronto. “But it was
determined [by research from the Toronto City
Summit Alliance] that not enough attention is
given to the commercial sector yet.
“This is really a case where a lot can be done
to reduce the environmental impact, but, for a
number of reasons, not a lot has been done.”
As part of Greening Greater Toronto’s man-
date to tackle the issues surrounding the
environmental impact of commercial build-
ings, the Greening Our Workplaces Tenant
Series launched in March with a presentation
by Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP on the
success of the firm’s energy-saving initiatives.
The program aims to bring together building
owners and tenants to discuss what can be done
to make workspaces throughout the GTA greener.
“There didn’t seem to be a lot of communi-
cation going on between those two groups,”
says Weichel. “And there also wasn’t a lot of
communication between tenants — [they]
were working in isolation from each other
rather than working together.”
Weichel adds that one of the messages being
presented during these meetings is that
reducing environmental impact of commercial
space is not only doable, but there is a business
case for making these types of changes.
Stikeman Elliott LLP launched their Going-
Green Program in 2008, and subsequently
became the first national law firm in Canada to
be certified Carbon Neutral. As hosts of the
second meeting of the Tenant Series on May 27,
firm representatives spoke with other Com-
merce Court tenants about the success of their
green initiatives.
Since the initiation of the GoingGreen Pro-
gram, Stikeman Elliott has implemented many
firm-wide changes with a focus on reducing
their environmental impact —specifically with
an eye towards energy efficiency.

Both McLeod and Weichel agree that there
is a business case for going green, even if a cap-
ital investment is made.
“Businesses don’t have to make capital
investments,” stresses Weichel, but if they want
to “there are financial incentives available.”
According to McLeod, Stikeman Elliott
worked with the BOMA Toronto Conservation
and Demand Management program to help
offset some of the capital costs of their Going-
Green initiatives.