Formatted Title

Decarbonizing the Global Economy: How Can the Environmental Remediation Industry Contribute?

Background/Objectives

The remediation industry worldwide is a 100+ billion-dollar business, active in every sector of the economy. In the early 2000s, this industry began a paradigm shift towards an integration of sustainability principles. The basis of this shift was the idea that an industry whose purpose is to remove contaminants from our environment should also excel at minimizing collateral environmental and social impacts. Guidance and tools were developed to help practitioners implement this shift. But this change in practice was mostly self-driven, and often faced resistance from clients and regulators. The current global focus on sustainability and climate change promises to change this. Almost every large private company and public entity now has a decarbonation objective, and is seeking nature positive and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to demonstrate its commitment to addressing social and environmental impacts.  

More specifically, in order to meet their 2030 or 2050 decarbonization targets, companies are looking at a myriad of ways they can reduce their environmental footprint: energy efficiency, shift to renewal energy, fleet decarbonization, sustainable procurement practices, waste reuse, etc. If a company is not able to identify and leverage sufficient reduction opportunities, they will need to purchase credits, the price of which is increasing every year.

Approach/Activities

The first step in a decarbonization journey is to produce a robust baseline. In order to report on its GHG emissions, an emitter must quantity it’s direct (scope 1 and 2), and indirect (scope 3) emissions using recognized standards such as the ISO14060 series and the GHG Protocole. Although only scopes 1 and 2 are typically regulated for large emitters, it is generally recognized that indirect emissions make up most of the carbon footprint. Scope 3 quantification is the more effort intensive of the three, and depends heavily on the quantity and quality of the available data. Once an accurate baseline is obtained, reduction opportunities can be identified and selected, usually based on criteria such as: cost-reduction ratio, co-benefits, associated risks and implementation schedule.

Remediation practitioners are well positioned to become key partners to support these decarbonation journeys, by leveraging their sustainable remediation expertise to bring desperately needed solutions to help meet these ambitious targets.  Whether it is a mine reclamation, legacy industrial site closure, operation and maintenance of treatment systems, or excess soil management as part of construction work, remediation consultants and contractors have their role to play. Moreover, many of the tools and methods which were developed and implemented can be transferred to non-remediation activities. These include for example multi-criteria analysis as well as carbon footprint calculation tools.

Results/Lessons Learned

The methodology, results and lessons learned from a case study of an ongoing decarbonization project for a Canadian federal entity will be presented.  An LCA conducted according to the ISO14040 methodology by a sustainability research lab had previously indicated that construction activities were responsible for 88% of all direct and indirect emissions for 2021. Remediation and groundwater treatment only accounted for 1% of the total. The preliminary results of the 2022 quantification conducted according to ISO14064 indicates 78% of emissions are attributable to construction work, and 21% to the vehicle fleet and heating of the buildings (natural gas). Detailed analysis of the construction emissions points towards concrete and asphalt as the highest emitters. The 2022 data for remediation activities has not yet been obtained. The work completed to date highlights the importance of having the right data collection and management process in place, and as well as having initiatives to raise awareness and engagement around decarbonization programs for both internal and external stakeholders. These are typically the main challenges of quantification work. From the initial results, it can be predicted that the short-term reduction plan will target mainly fleet decarbonization via electrification as well as more efficient fleet management. Medium term actions will focus mainly on more sustainable procurement practices. An initial assessment of remedial activities indicates that some sustainable best practices have already been implemented and should be captured and potentially replicated in other activities.