Staff and resources for overall project coordination, developing and delivering business services (innovation and technology development, industry cluster development and market access, financing, marketing and communications, etc.), developing and delivering demonstration projects (facility development, infrastructure development, etc.), and monitoring, training, education, outreach, and evaluation of GEZ projects.
Establish Vancouver’s Green Enterprise Zone
A green job space providing a range of diverse employment opportunities.
A green enterprise zone (GEZ) is an area where a diversity of green jobs are created, ranging from low threshold through to high skilled employment opportunities. This area will also have high green standards to make it the “greenest job space in the world”, including improved environmental performance for business operations, urban infrastructure, transportation, and district energy. The strategies developed in this area will be scale-able, replicable, and teachable for other areas of the city and the region. A possible location for the green enterprise zone in Vancouver is in the downtown Eastside and False Creek Flats with a possible partnership with Vancouver Port Authority.
Actions for this strategy
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Staff and Resources
Financing Mechanisms
Develop and deliver innovative financing mechanisms customized to each demonstration project, using a menu of potential city assets to leverage other investments including land, grants, loan funds, tax shifts, capital projects, permitting and licensing fee rebates, expedited permit processes, etc.
Demonstration Projects
Develop Demonstration Projects with public/private partnerships for key green economy industry clusters located at strategic nodes within the GEZ and each with dedicated staff and resources for developing social enterprise, local procurement, and/or supportive employment opportunities, emphasizing (but not limited to) city-owned properties in the short-term:
- Clean Technology – Vancouver has excellent resources in research and development but small start ups need support for commercialization of technology. Establishing a Green Technology Centre (GTC) will offer physical incubator space and mentoring to help to grow new green companies, and will also provide coaching for other technology firms to developer greener business practices.
- The GTC will provide a network between industry associations, post-secondary institutions, the private sector, and City of Vancouver departments.
- Vancouver is home to IT and communications businesses which offer a unique opportunity to develop the smart grid hardware and software sectors. A major demonstration project in smart grid technology, such as building on the City’s MOU with Cisco and Pulse Energy to develop a green data centre along with citywide connectivity, will facilitate a transition to smart-grid enabled energy efficiency.
- Waste and Recycling – Building on extended producer responsibility requirements by establishing a Re-use Technology Centre for storage, sorting, and distribution of recyclable and retrieved materials in collaboration with industrial designers, academics, and entrepreneurs to incubate new markets for the retrieved products
- Local Food – Develop a food processing enterprise incubator to assist entrepreneurs and small enterprises get started in food manufacturing businesses, including an equipped commercial kitchen, training, marketing, distribution, point-of-sale strategies and methods, etc.
Public Infrastructure
Capital investment in public infrastructure, including:
- District energy utility (designed to tie-in to existing buildings as well as new construction)
- LED streetlights / Solar compacting garbage cans / Street-side recycling / Neighbourhood composting facility (possibly for bio-gas production)
- Improved transit access / Enhanced pedestrian and cycling networks.
Expand Eco-Industrial District
Build on Vancouver's first Eco-Industrial District in the Strathcona BIA. Manufacturing and service businesses are located near each other and are managing environmental and resource issues. Specific actions include identifying suitable properties to expand the district and investigating opportunities for shared logistics and shipping & receiving facilities, shared parking, green technology purchasing blocks, multi-partner green building retrofit, district energy systems, and local education & resource centres.
Further Demonstration Projects
Further demonstration projects in Clean Technology, Waste, Green Building and Sustainability Services
Program of Incentives and Financing Mechanisms
Develop a program of incentives and financing mechanisms for low-impact private green enterprise investment and developments in key green industry sectors.
Expand Partnerships
Expand partnerships to other public and private agencies, including senior levels of government.
Regulatory Mechanisms
Develop regulatory mechanisms and policy incentives to foster green economic and employment growth and to support industry specialization, including ongoing research on global best practices.
Comments
Thank you for your input! The strategies and actions listed here are drafts. Read the final version of the Greenest City Action Plan.
Double the number of green jobs in the City by 2020, over 2010 levels.
There will be a greening existing businesses target, but that is still in development.
Recent comments in Green Economy
noelson commented on
Create a Local Employment Action Plan
amyreidpd commented on
Establish Vancouver’s Green Enterprise Zone
DavidVS commented on
Establish Vancouver’s Green Enterprise Zone
Its arduous to find
Its arduous to find knowledgeable individuals on this topic, but you sound like you realize what youre talking about! Thanks
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Create a crowd funding program for green entrepreneurs
Using the successful Profounder.com crowd funding model, create a program where green entrepreneurs can get funding for their green initiatives.