On September 28th, Delta Management Group convened some of Canada’s leading sustainability pioneers at the Clean50 Summit at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) Clubhouse on Toronto Island. The day was focused on generating practical ideas to accelerate the transition toward a sustainable economy.

The Clean50 Summit has become an annual event for inspiration, connection, and recognition. It is a day of creative problem-solving followed by a night of networking and celebration, with good food and magnificent views.

There were over 50 attendees at the 2011 Summit, including Clean50 honourees, key members of their teams, the Clean50 advisory board, and Delta Management. Attendees were divided into cross-pollinated working groups in order to promote new connections across disciplines, industries, and interest groups, and foster relationships that may lead to future collaboration or mutual assistance.

In the morning, the working groups, facilitated by experienced thought leaders, were given the opportunity to tackle specific issues and produce ideas that might resolve those issues. Through two afternoon sessions and cross-group communication, these ideas were refined and considered, with the objective of generating 50 Great Ideas by evening. In the end, we had over 300 ideas, the top 50 of which can be found here.

Letter from Delta Management:

Tom Brokaw once said, “It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.” Behind the drive towards building a sustainable future for Canada, there are many who have strived to make that difference. These are the individuals who have made us aware, motivated teams, led organizations, generated ideas, developed technology, championed innovation and, above all, have made things happen. We set out to find them.

A number of years ago it might have been hard to identify 50 people in Canada whose career achievements focused on sustainability. The good news is that in the short time since we launched The Clean50, Delta Management Group generated over 300 nominations.

Impact is a very subjective term when it comes to sustainability. Who deserves the credit for a sustainable movement—the consultants, the project manager and engineers who implement the projects or the leaders who orchestrate the investment to turn concept into reality? Our answer is all of the above. History has shown that it is individuals who have combined vision with action that have driven the change needed to move society through a tipping point. It was this quality we set out to recognize in our nominees; therefore we focused on individuals who have gone above and beyond, true knights who had stood up in their organizations or society to overcome the barriers and made a difference.

In order to ensure that The Clean50 embraced all sectors, we defined 16 categories then recognized at least two people in each, based primarily on their impact within the last two years. Nominations were gathered starting at the CK Gala in June, on this website, and continuing with search activity through early August. We also reached out across our network:. We asked companies about the impact of NGOs, educators and consultants on their processes—and we asked NGOs, consultants and industry associations about their clients/members/supporters for their ideas as to who merited consideration.

Congratulations to all our nominators, nominees and advisors on helping drive sustainability in Canada. Please click here to see the full list of Clean50 honourees.

Gavin Pitchford, Chief Talent Officer

Gavin Pitchford, Chief Talent Officer

Kevin Dunal, VP Sustainability Division