Ottawa Climate Action Fund Convenes Industry and Business Leaders in Landmark Housing Summit

/EIN News/ -- Ottawa, Oct. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Ottawa Climate Action Fund (OCAF) is set to host the groundbreaking Ottawa Climate-Economy Opportunities Summit, bringing together industry leaders, policymakers, and community stakeholders to tackle the city's dual crises: housing and climate.

Ottawa's future prosperity hinges on our ability to address the pressing challenges of housing supply and affordability, and climate change. We can tackle them best by tackling them together, developing housing solutions that are not only more affordable but also energy-efficient and climate-resilient. The Summit aims to foster a collaborative approach, uniting businesses, government agencies, and community organizations to accelerate decarbonization efforts, enhance local resilience, and improve housing supply and affordability.

The Summit will focus on five action areas:

1. Public Land for New Housing: Identifying parcels of surplus land that can be deployed quickly to deliver more affordable, low carbon/net zero new housing
2. Reno-Protection: Public-private collaboration to acquire older apartment buildings for deep energy retrofits while permanently protecting their affordability
3. Gentle Density Accelerator: Discovering how to house more people on under-utilized residential lots (secondary suites, coach/ADUs, duplexes, multiplexes...) while tackling neighbourhoods' carbon footprint
4. Energy Resilience Districts: Looking beyond the building at how technology can deliver deep energy efficiency, onsite renewable power, energy storage, and district energy solutions in new developments
5. Green Pipeline: Bringing together the investment opportunities (companies, projects), investors, finance mechanisms, and matchmaking services to accelerate the delivery of low-carbon, more affordable housing supply

“The best way to solve the climate and housing crises in Ottawa is to link and solve them together. And we’ll see tremendous economic opportunities when we pick up the pace on both—for Ottawa businesses, investors, and residents. It begins at today’s Summit, by connecting the project developers, investors, low-carbon opportunities, and social capital that will drive Carbon Down and Community Up,” said Steve Winkelman, Executive Director of the Ottawa Climate Action Fund.

The Summit will feature participation from key local organizations including the City of Ottawa, Ottawa Board of Trade, Kanata North Business Association, and Invest Ottawa. These partners, along with business and community leaders, have been instrumental in shaping these opportunities into actionable, investment-ready plans.

“At the Ottawa Board of Trade, we know that city building must be sustainable, affordable, and inclusive,” said Sueling Ching, President and CEO, Ottawa Board of Trade. “The way forward is through radical collaboration amongst the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Events like the Ottawa Climate-Economy Opportunities Summit provide an opportunity to actively take part in this collaboration and to use the outcomes of the day to build up Ottawa.”

• Sueling Ching, President & CEO, Ottawa Board of Trade

“The City of Ottawa recognizes Kanata North as a key economic generator and has designated the Kanata North Research Park as a Special Economic District. This provides the opportunity to rethink how we solve real-world problems with real-world impacts. That’s why we’re collaborating with OCAF to explore the opportunity for the park to be a Clean Energy Resilience District where technology can deliver deep energy efficiency, onsite renewable power, and energy storage.”

• Kelly Daize, Executive Director, Kanata North Business Association

Media are invited to attend a briefing on Wednesday, October 9th, at 7 Bayview Station Rd. Ottawa, at 12:30 pm. Interview opportunities will follow.

Speaking at the briefing:

• Steve Winkelman, Executive Director, OCAF
• Mary Rowe, President & CEO, Canadian Urban Institute
• Chris Henderson, Canadian eco-entrepreneur and environmental innovator
• Rodney Wilts, Real Estate Developer & Asset Manager, Theia Partners Inc.

About Ottawa Climate Action Fund:
The Ottawa Climate Action Fund (OCAF) exists to catalyze and scale low-carbon solutions to their full potential in Ottawa. We align this work with community benefit, bringing low- carbon initiatives, investments and people together to deliver tangible, lasting success.

Annettte Goerner
                    Director of Public Relations, spark*advocacy
                    613-818-6941
                    annette@sparkadvocacy.ca