Norda Stelo Joins BDO Zone Strategic Alliance

– AS A PARTNER IN THE PROJECT GROUP, NORDA STELO WILL HELP DE-RISK AND ACCELERATE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT IN BDO ZONES –

March 7^th, 2023 Eastern Daylight Time

Ecostrat is pleased to announce that Norda Stelo has joined the BDO Zone Strategic Alliance as a partner in the Project Group. BDO Zone Strategic Alliance Partners include some of the leading companies in the bioenergy industry that help de-risk biobased project development in BDO Zones.

“Through becoming a partner of the BDO Zone initiative and using our strategic, collaborative, and technical abilities we can help to identify, develop and deploy projects that help our clients and the communities in which they operate decarbonize more quickly. As the first major engineering firm in Canada to become B-Corp certified who is also committed to achieving net zero, we are thrilled to be a part of the BDO Zone initiative to drive and de-risk investment in sustainable energy alternatives that will bring tremendous local economic local benefits while driving down greenhouse gas emissions.” – Alex Brisson, CEO of Norda Stelo.

“The BDO Zone Initiative welcomes Norda Stelo as the newest addition to the growing Strategic Alliance,” states Jordan Solomon, President of Ecostrat. “Norda Stelo’s expertise in delivering integrated projects that utilize Brownfield Engineering will help de-risk and accelerate the production of bio-based plants in BDO Zones across North America.”

American biomass provides an economic development engine with the potential to create 160,000 jobs and nearly $15 billion of economic benefit. In Canada, the national economic impact potential is estimated at 16,060 direct, indirect, and induced jobs and over $1.48 billion annually of economic benefit. The BDO Zone Initiative can help North America realize this potential by supporting new market development for bioenergy, advanced biofuels, biobased heat and power, bio-materials, and clean hydrogen.

About Norda Stelo

Established in 1963, Norda Stelo is a privately held Canadian multi-disciplinary engineering consulting company with a team of over 700 people globally. With offices across Canada, in the US as well as operations in Madagascar and New-Caledonia, Norda Stelo is a proven leader in optimizing asset performance and management towards the sustainability of its partners’ operations, communities and the planet.

With its mission: “Driving engineering through innovation. Together. Sustainably.”, Norda Stelo aims to rapidly and thoughtfully decarbonize industry, enable the energy transition, and build resilient infrastructure while delivering ESG benefits to its clients. Our work in designing and delivering bio-energy projects for industry and municipalities while working with local economic development organizations to provide economic opportunities with greenhouse gas reductions is just one example of this. As the first major engineering firm in Canada to become B-Corp certified, Norda Stelo is committed to bettering the environment and having a positive impact on climate change by focussing on value-added engineering and sustainable results for its clients and the communities in which they operate.

Widely known throughout the province of Quebec, Norda Stelo is strategically very well positioned as a partner of choice for value-added bio-energy related projects in the region and well beyond.

For more information about Norda Stelo, visit www.norda.com. To connect directly with our Director of ESG and Decarbonization, Matt McCulloch, please email matthew.mcculloch@norda.com.

About The BDO Zone Initiative

The BDO Zone Initiative is an economic development platform that enables local communities to deploy powerful economic development tools – BDO Zone Ratings – to achieve the goal of driving, accelerating, and catalyzing biobased investment and commercial project development in BDO Zone-designated regions for new biofuel, renewable chemical, biogas, and bioproduct plants. BDO Zone Ratings do this by carrying out credible technical evaluations on feedstock and infrastructure risk and then enabling communities to effectively signal and promote key feedstock and infrastructure “success” characteristics valued by biobased developers and investors around the world.

‘AA’ or ‘A’ rated BDO Zones identify the best areas for low-risk bioeconomy project development. BDO Zone Ratings enable distressed communities to add capacity to support the deployment of innovative technology and infrastructure, and this drives regional economic development to areas where poverty has been persistent for generations, harnessing natural resources to support biobased manufacturing and renewable energy production.

BDO Zones have the ability to move the needle on job creation, decarbonization, and social justice. By achieving the goal of 1,000 BDO Zones in four years across the U.S., this Initiative has the potential to create more than 160,000 clean jobs, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2.59%, and provide $30,000,000/year into the local economy.

The BDO Zone Strategic Alliance Partnership is divided into four groups: Capital Markets Partners, Project Partners, Technology Partners, and Supply Chain Partners.

For more information on the BDO Zone Initiative, please contact info@bdozone.org. To view all current and upcoming BDO Zone designations, visit www.bdozone.org or check out the BDO Zone LinkedIn page for all news and updates.

About Ecostrat

Ecostrat led the USDOE/BETO funded project to develop the new investment Standards and Ratings for Biomass Supply Chain Risk. Its Biomass Supply Group has 25 years of experience in sourcing and supplying more than 5 million tons of biomass feedstock for bioenergy, biofuel, and biochemical projects across North America. Its Advisory Group combines the BSCR Standards with powerful predictive analytics to understand and minimize supply chain risk.

Jordan Solomon is Chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative and President of Ecostrat. He has overseen the development and operation of biomass supply chains for more than 5,000,000 tons of feedstock over two decades for bioenergy, biofuel, and biochemical projects.

Jordan Solomon can be reached at jordan.solomon@ecostrat.com. For more information about Ecostrat, visit the company’s website at www.ecostrat.com/standards or check out the Ecostrat LinkedIn page for all news and updates.