In November 2016, Bullfrog Power and TD Bank Group launched a first-of-a-kind renewable energy collaboration, encompassing the full suite of Bullfrog’s renewable energy products – green electricity, green natural gas and green fuel – to address 100 per cent of TD’s energy footprint for its Vancouver branches and a portion of its business-related travel in Vancouver.

The novelty of the green energy commitment – not obvious to those outside of the world of carbon reporting – is that TD is using a single solution to address all three scopes, or types, of its emissions footprint, which is a first in Canada for such a large organization. (Learn more about Bullfrog’s 3-scope solution for business).

As TD’s Chief Environment Officer, Karen Clarke-Whistler, explains:

“At TD we are committed to actively supporting the transition to the low-carbon economy, starting with how we operate our own facilities. Through our collaboration with Bullfrog Power, we were able to extend our carbon neutral commitment, by addressing the full impact of our emissions footprint in Vancouver with a single solution. The initiative also provides a scalable model that can be used by businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, and play a key role in building the cities of the future.”

Vancouver was an ideal location for TD because of the number of branches and the size of its energy footprint in the city. An environmental leader in its own right, Vancouver was well positioned for collaboration on sustainability. The City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan, launched in 2011, encompasses green buildings, transportation and waste. TD could contribute to one of the plan’s major goals: reducing community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent from 2007 levels by 2020.

In addition to reducing the environmental impact of its Vancouver branches, by choosing renewable energy with Bullfrog Power, TD is also supporting the development of community renewable energy projects across Canada. In British Columbia, these include a solar installation on Pender School and B.C.’s first co-operatively owned community solar project.

Getting the word out

One of the things that made this initiative particularly successful was the way in which TD’s employees responded to – and shared – the news about it. They saw this collaboration as an example of TD’s commitment to environmental leadership and to reducing the impact of its own operations.  Especially in light of its recent commitment to 100% renewable electricity, as the first Canadian company to join RE100.

A launch event was held at the TD branch at 700 West Georgia Street in Vancouver, featuring representatives and employees from TD and Bullfrog Power. Vancouver’s City Councilor Andrea Reimer was also in attendance at the event!

TD shared the news with its employees through an internal blog and weekly environment newsletter, where employees could learn more about the collaboration and how it fit into TD’s larger environmental strategy – and employees from across Canada noticed. Here are just a few of the responses from TD employees:

What a truly bold and outstanding effort TD is taking to lead by example in this all important environmental front. Living in this beautiful city, an initiative like this (along with many others) goes a very long way for our community and people. Thank you, TD! – Jeffer H.

It is awesome to see this environmental leadership and investment. And truly amazing how far we have traveled as an organization… making innovations such as these embedded in our business as usual operations #GreenWhereYouLive – Jamie K.

I’m thrilled TD chose Vancouver for this initiative – not only because I work here, but because Vancouver share’s TD’s commitment to environmental leadership and has a goal to be one of the world’s greenest cities by 2020. – Mauro M.

Loved this announcement! More cities should join the initiative. I am all the way across the country (in Toronto) and would be very happy to help bring something like this to my city. Great job team! – Racquel D.

Employees also took to social media to help share the announcement:

In addition, Bullfrog Power and TD worked together on an announcement of the collaboration that included a media advisory and press release, as well as an infographic, highlighting details of the initiative. More than 20 websites picked up the advisory or release, generating over half a million impressions in coverage.

The latest step in a long sustainability journey

Since 1990, when TD founded TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, it has been committed to supporting environmental initiatives across Canada. This year marks nine years of history partnering with Bullfrog on advancing green energy in Canada—from TD’s original green energy commitment in 2008 to collaborating on the launch of Bullfrog Power’s green fuel pilot project in 2015 to TD’s latest Vancouver initiative in 2016.

We look forward to seeing what’s next for TD in its work on the environment. Until then, here are just a few of the ways that TD has worked to take a leadership position on the environment: