What are the benefits of the partnership between the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) and Enbridge?

For 30 years, WHC has been working at the intersection of business and nature. We help leading companies like Enbridge create conservation programs on their properties that benefit the environment and surrounding communities. Enbridge is an ideal partner to expand the WHC model of corporate conservation in the U.S. and Canada, and increase the collective positive environmental outcomes our members around the world actively seek.

It’s exciting to be part of Enbridge’s commitment to environmental stewardship. From the c-suite to the site level, this initiative was developed to balance its environmental commitment with corporate sustainability goals, risk reduction, employee engagement and community values. We’re proud to partner with Enbridge to empower and encourage their employee volunteers to develop and manage WHC Conservation Certification® programs that Enbridge implements in local communities that provide ecological benefit within an operational and budgetary context. This integrated approach—across disciplines, operations and communities—contributes to an overall positive outcome for species and habitat.

How has the WHC worked with Enbridge to advance the company’s commitment to environmental stewardship?

Enbridge understands that for this type of partnership to thrive, it must be more than a typical, arms-length philanthropic relationship. To have longevity—and real, meaningful impact—our partnership must be ready to adapt to meet the changing needs of business. To that effect, Enbridge and WHC engaged in regular strategy sessions throughout 2017 that helped us understand the Enbridge culture and business, and allowed us to build important relationships within the company.

Together, we’ve worked to develop a strategic approach to environmental stewardship with a specific focus on ensuring conservation is accessible across all types of operations. What’s visionary about what Enbridge is doing is that they realize this isn’t possible with a cookie-cutter approach. Enbridge’s environmental stewardship is based upon a global approach that benefits the company, employees and community as a whole—not just one project or one program, but all of them together. That collective approach is one of the reasons why the program has been successful.

One of the highlights for Enbridge in 2017 was the Pollinator initiative that we partnered with you on for our NEXUS project. Why do you think that initiative was particularly successful?

As part of the conversation around the NEXUS project, the NEXUS project team and the WHC developed an initiative to directly connect with community members and other stakeholders to create positive impacts for the environment—right in their backyards. 

Five accessible locations on the proposed pipeline were chosen for habitat and species enhancement projects and were informed by the needs of the communities. We identified local partners, created tactics that exceeded compliance requirements, and aligned with the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators, as well as state wildlife action plans.

We partnered with local parks at the locations to host Pollinator Week events and invited day-camp children for planting and pollinator education. Thousands of native plants were installed to improve habitat for pollinators and other wildlife, as well as to improve the overall appearance.

Through these activities, we could effectively inject community value into the dialogue, and open positive relations between NEXUS and community stakeholders, securing social license to operate and creating a more collaborative working relationship.