Canadian cleantech companies don’t need to travel to make waves in the global market.
The Silver Lining
The pandemic has, if anything, necessitated that we learn to do business from far away. The changes we made were tough. We did it anyway. And this new virtual way of life gave us a 6.4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
This is not enough to combat the worst effects of climate change. But we did learn that businesses can function remotely. Now as countries begin to reopen, can we keep some of these remote work changes to lower our carbon footprint?
One change that has a case for permanent adoption is business travel. It seems doable that pre-pandemic customs like flying for a one-hour meeting are not brought back now that we are virtual-work savvy. Along with reducing carbon footprint, this would save companies time and travel expenses. This money can be put back into the business or product. And with no travel time, that one-hour meeting would actually take one hour. Scaling faster, cheaper.
On the other hand, supporters of face-to-face deal brokering may argue: valuable connections happen in person. So how can we create the same opportunities for international deal-making without having a person on the ground?
Foresight has scaled up the SDG Connect Challenge Series for this very reason. We provide a platform for Canadian companies to bring their cleantech solutions to global markets. All at a low or no cost to your carbon footprint.
A Platform for Global Business from Home
SDG Connect is an Innovation Challenge series. Foresight and the Trade Commissioner Service partner with organizations around the world to engage global companies looking to address sustainability challenges. Then we connect them to Canadian companies with cleantech solutions.
Each five-month Challenge opens doors for Canada’s cleantech sector, while also helping large companies reach their climate, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and Environmental Social and corporate Governance (ESG) goals.
Some of our past challenges have helped:
- Vestas (Denmark) find zero waste wind turbine solutions
- OMV (Austria) identify new ways to turn methane into hydrogen
- Saipem (Italy) explore hydrogen storage for a variety of uses
- Pepsico (Mexico) process organic waste and reduce the impact of packaging
Foresight’s mission is to accelerate the growth and impact of cleantech ecosystems across Canada to achieve deep decarbonization. We want to help you build a cleantech business in a low-carbon way.
Sign up for sector-focused Challenge notifications. If you represent a cleantech solutions provider, a company with a challenge to solve, or a prospective partner organization, contact us to learn more!
