Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has announced an ambitious goal: achieve carbon neutral operations at Chalk River Laboratories by 2040.
In its just-released annual sustainability report, CNL outlines an aggressive strategy to reduce emissions in pursuit of carbon neutral operations.
The carbon neutral strategy includes plans to implement significant conservation measures, require net-zero design for new construction and major retrofits, transition CNL’s vehicle fleet to electric, and decommission inefficient facilities.
Officials say the goal of the plan is to fulfill environmental objectives set out by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy. CNL operates the Chalk River Laboratories on behalf of AECL, who owns the site, under a Government-owned, Company-operated (GoCo) management model.
The organizations will work together over the next two decades to reduce emissions by around 90 per cent to near zero, and then balance out remaining emissions with strategic carbon offsets.
The target is outlined in CNL’s newly-released 2023 ESG Report, A CNL Sustainability Performance Update, which is an annual document that tracks the company’s progress towards sustainable operations. It was established to support the Government of Canada in its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
If you’d like to learn more about CNL, or to view the company’s 2023 Sustainability Report, please visit www.cnl.ca.
(Written by Sherry Haaima)