Big, bold and boreal wins!
Nature Conservancy of Canada CEO Catherine Grenier, Boreal Wildlands project earn Clean50 Awards
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is proud to receive two honours in Canada’s 2023 Clean50 Awards. Catherine Grenier, president and CEO, has been recognized as a Clean16 award-winner, as the leader in the awards’ Advocate category, while the not-for-profit organization’s Boreal Wildlands project was selected as a winner in the Top Sustainability Project Award category. Clean50 Awards are granted annually to initiatives that innovate, inform and inspire others to take climate action and make a major impact. Visit www.clean50.com for more information.
Leadership
Under Grenier’s leadership, NCC has influenced the protection of more than one million hectares over the past two years alone – that’s more than twice the size of Prince Edward Island. NCC has also launched the Nature + Climate Projects Accelerator. This one-of-a-kind team creates bold and innovative nature-based solutions projects to generate new sources of private funding to support more conservation.
Grenier has guided NCC’s Strategic Plan, which sets ambitious goals to unlock solutions that support Canada’s commitment to conserve 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030. NCC also strives to support conservation through Reconciliation as allies with Indigenous Peoples. Grenier leads a growing team of approximately 430 staff across Canada.
Innovation
The Boreal Wildlands Conservation Project is located near Hearst, Ontario, and was launched publicly on Earth Day, 2022. The project covers nearly 1,500 square kilometres. At twice the size of Toronto, it is Canada’s largest-ever private land conservation project and protects more than 100 lakes and 1,300 kilometres of streams and shoreline. NCC committed to enabling creative and durable conservation outcomes here that honour Indigenous relationships with the land. This includes access to harvesting, a space for knowledge-sharing and joint research projects. NCC is actively engaging with local Indigenous communities whose traditional territories overlap the area.
Boreal Wildlands is estimated to store more than 190 million tonnes of carbon in its forests and wetlands. NCC has launched a Boreal Wildlands carbon project to support conservation in the area and across the country. It is NCC’s second carbon credit project, and its first in Ontario.
Canada’s Clean50 awards are announced annually by Delta Management Group and recognize 50 sector-leading individuals, 20 emerging leaders and five lifetime achievement award winners. The winners are nominated from 16 categories and represent individuals who endeavour to facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation in the fight against climate change. Twenty-five top projects round out the list.
Quotes
“I am extremely proud of the work the Nature Conservancy of Canada has achieved, but we know we must act with even more ambition. That’s why NCC is committed to doubling its impact by 2030. Nature conservation provides real and measurable solutions to protect ecosystems and communities from biodiversity loss and climate change. Through partnership, innovation and demonstrable successes, NCC is taking the lead and bringing Canadians together to accelerate the pace of conservation and secure a future for us and for nature.” – Catherine Grenier, President and CEO, Nature Conservancy of Canada
“The need for conservation action has never been more urgent. It will take substantial private sector investment to ensure nature and people thrive now and into the future. Through key partnerships and collaboration, NCC is using innovative conservation finance mechanisms like carbon credits to accelerate durable conservation outcomes like the Boreal Wildlands.” – Craig Losos, Executive Director, Nature + Climate Projects Accelerator, Nature Conservancy of Canada
“The Nature Conservancy of Canada is changing the game by accelerating its conservation efforts and transforming environmental support to levels never seen before in Canadian history. Under Catherine’s leadership, NCC is working at an unprecedented pace to conserve critical natural areas that support wildlife and human life. Among other bold moves, NCC recently completed the largest private land conservation project within Canadian borders, taking responsibility for 1,500 square kilometres of forests and peatlands in northern Ontario, through a project called Boreal Wildlands. This project’s scope, approach and innovation helps us see the forest for the future.” – Gavin Pitchford, Executive Director, Canada’s Clean50 Award program
About Nature Conservancy of Canada
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the country’s unifying force for nature. NCC seeks solutions to the twin crises of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change through large-scale, permanent land conservation. As a trusted partner, NCC works with people, communities, businesses and government to protect and care for our country’s most important natural areas. Since 1962, NCC has brought Canadians together to conserve and restore more than 15 million hectares. To learn more, visit natureconservancy.ca.
About Delta Management Group / Canada’s Clean50
Leading ESG, sustainability and clean tech search firm Delta Management Group founded, and remains the steward of the Canada’s Clean50 awards, created in 2011 to annually identify, recognize and connect 50 sustainability leaders from every sector of Canadian endeavour, in order to facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation in the fight to keep climate change impacts below 1.5 degrees C. Ancillary awards also recognize 20 Emerging Leaders and the Top Sustainability Projects of the year, as well as bestow Lifetime Achievement designations.
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