AET Group Inc. Wins Partner of the Year!

KITCHENER, ON – On April 13^th, Sustainable Waterloo Region held its 14^th annual Evening of Recognition to celebrate the efforts made by organizations within our community to reduce our environmental impacts. The evening was an opportunity to connect with other organizations, leaders and members of the SWR.

AET was recognized as the award recipient for SWR Partner of the Year!  This award is a testament and an external validation of our strong foundation and culture of sustainability at AET, through numerous sustainability commitments and initiatives. Sustainability has always been a priority at AET, it’s in our DNA and engrained in our culture.  Sustainability to us means maintaining connections with nature and each other. It’s not just about the environment but it’s about balancing the people, planet, and profit. As we continue to see huge impacts from climate change both locally and globally, we feel we need to take action to help combat this trend and inspire others to do the same.

“We value the partnership and relationship we have created over the years to drive sustainability not only through our own organization but throughout our community,” said Scott Freiburger, Managing Director and CEO of AET Group Inc. “Our business is built on relationships and a set of core values with sustainability being one of them.  We are always looking to partner with like-minded organizations like Sustainable Waterloo Region, who share the same values and vision as AET.  We will continue to push the sustainability boundaries and are looking forward to the continuation of our partnership with Sustainable Waterloo Region to drive sustainability even further throughout our community.”

We continue to invest in sustainability initiatives at AET to reach our goal of being Net Zero Carbon by 2030 across all our operations.  This includes:

• Retrofitting our office building in Kitchener to a certified net zero carbon building with the Canada Green Building Council
• Installation of 4 dual-head ev charging stations and beginning to transition our fleet vehicles to electric
• Creating a culture of sustainability through numerous internal sustainability programs and initiatives to engage staff
• Recertification of our BCorp status
• Our commitment to 11 UN SDGs with actionable targets

Our future projects include:

• Becoming a net energy positive building through additional solar panel installations, as we have put more reliance on energy through the additional EV charging stations
• Transitioning off natural gas
• Goal of Planting 30,000 trees in areas impacted by deforestation by 2030 through our 1% for the Trees Program
• Installation of pervious paving in our parking lot to reduce stormwater runoff
• Commitment to Environment Canada Net Zero Challenge
• Starting a nitrile glove recycling program to divert 100% of nitrile gloves we use from landfill

Congratulations to all the winners at this years’ event, it is wonderful to see our community come together in person to share ideas on sustainability.

To view the video the SWR filmed about our award, please click here.