Andrew Heintzman

Andrew Heintzman is the president and co-founder of Investeco Capital, the first Canadian investment firm to be exclusively focused on environmental sectors. Heintzman is also the Chair of the Premier's Climate Change Advisory Panel for the Province of Ontario.

Heintzman speaks about building an innovative green economy in Canada. He is a firm believer that if we encourage a green economy, we can have both economic growth and environmental sustainability. By evaluating a number of sectors that are in transition - from forestry to electricity to oil, gas and agriculture – Heintzman helps to shed some light on how entrepreneurs and organizations are leading a transition to a greener economy.

Prior to founding Investeco, Heintzman was the co-founder and publisher of Shift Magazine. He is the co-editor of Fueling the Future: How the Battle Over Energy is Changing Everything, Feeding the Future: From Fat to Famine, and Food and Fuel: Solutions for the Future, published by the House of Anansi Press. His latest book, The New Entrepreneurs, was published in June 2010.

Heintzman sits on a number of corporate boards, including Lotek Wireless, Triton Logging and Horizon Distributors.  Additionally, he is on the board of directors of the Tides Canada Foundation, and the Steering Committee of Sustainable Prosperity.

• 2. The Coming Cleantech Investment Wave

  In the 1990s, massive investment in technology built a new infrastructure and also led to the creation of dominant companies like Google and RIM. In the coming decade, a new wave of investment is gathering around green infrastructure that promises to be no less transformational. Not only does this investment wave has the potential to make society more productive and prosperous, it is also required to stop environmental problems like global climate change. Heintzman looks at how this capital can be deployed to create a more prosperous, green and innovative economy.

• 1. Building a Green Economy in Canada

  Environmental sustainability and economic growth have often been portrayed as being at cross-purposes, but increasingly this is recognized as antiquated. In fact, it's becoming clearer that a new focus on environmental sustainability could be a huge driver of economic growth in coming years, as Canada moves from being a resource-based economy to an innovation-based economy. Already some of Canada's most established industries--forestry, automotive, oil and gas, agriculture--are evolving to take advantage of opportunities that come from being more sustainable. Heintzman looks at who is leading these developments, and how these trends can be encouraged to drive a truly green economy in Canada.

• As a keynote speaker at the 2010 Power of Green Conference held in Halifax November 8th, Andrew Heintzman offered the business, academic and public policy audience insights into the potential green oriented business practices can have in leading our country into a more sustainable future.  His research and presentation creates a message that is encouraging, engaging and insightful.  He discusses how preserving resources creates value and business opportunities and demonstrates how targeted venture capital can create the needed conditions to improve all aspects of the business environment.  The feed-back on Mr. Heintzman's presentation has been very positive and our conference delegates left the Power of Green anxious to read his book "The New Entrepreneurs".

  Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development

• Andrew Heintzman's keynote address on sustainable economy and innovation was highly relevant to the topic of regional sustainability at a forum held recently for local and regional councillors and board members of the Capital Regional District on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Following a broad sweep of international and national trends, Andrew inferred how local governments can lay the foundation for an innovative economy.  With an ideal balance of ease and enthusiasm, Andrew clearly conveys substantiated evidence that there are significant economic opportunities in addressing climate change and evolving societal needs.

  Capital Region District Sustainability Conference (Southern Vancouver Island)

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  June 2010

  The New Entrepreneurs

  In The New Entrepreneurs, author and venture capitalist Andrew Heintzman introduces us to the innovative business leaders who are at the forefront of the green economy. From forestry, water, and energy to transportation and agriculture, Heintzman profiles the enterprises that are developing cutting-edge, clean-tech products and innovations for export to a vast and rapidly expanding global market. In a world that faces growing threats of climate change, peak oil, and resource scarcity, Heintzman shares his vision of a new and prosperous way forward.

  
  
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  February 2009

  Food and Fuel: Solutions for the Future

  The 21st century appears to be dominated by two major global crises: the scarcity of food and the disappearance of fuel. Through shortages and soaring costs, both have had detrimental effects on the environment and both have undermined the global economy — most importantly, both will continue to do so unless immediate action is taken. This timely and provocative collection of essays explores how and why these problems have developed and what can be done to resolve them. Wide-ranging pieces by trenchant thinkers such as Thomas Homer-Dixon, Gordon Laird, Jeremy Rifkin, Ken Wiwa, Frances Moore Lappé, and Anna Lappé offer valuable strategies to combat global famine and fast-food fat, business models for safe and sustainable food production and power sources, descriptions of emerging technologies and sciences, a reexamination of nuclear power, and much more. Both remarkable for its depth of thought and eminently readable, Food and Fuel provides innovative, practical solutions for dealing with these urgent issues.

  
  
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  August 2006

  Feeding the Future: From Fat to Famine, How to Solve the World's Food Crises

  As humanity enters the 21st century, globalization and modernization promise to make for more consumption of grains, beef, and fish than ever before. The 2 billion inhabitants of India and China are set to purchase at unprecedented levels, and sub-Saharan Africa will need to overcome its many torturous famines. What kinds of fixes can ensure the stability of the food supply throughout the 21st century and beyond? Feeding the Future provides pragmatic, learned solutions to the issues that loom large. Nine chapters, each penned by a different expert, examine issues ranging from food safety to the business of food to conservation. "Fish or Cut Bait" examines overfishing and other practices that threaten to ruin the world's seas, while "Between Feast and Famine" takes on the issue of global trade, showing how globalization can be made to work for all. Combining social ingenuity, emerging technologies, and smart business models, Feeding the Future offers real solutions for a world that needs them now more than ever.

  
  
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  April 2005

  Fueling the Future

  From trips to the market to lighting entire cities, power is pivotal to the simplest of everyday necessities. Wars are fought over it, the planet is polluted by it, but now its price has become too high. Are we capable of shifting to cleaner, safer, more reliable sources of energy? Fueling the Future gathers the best and brightest minds in the field — thinkers like Jeremy Rifkin, L. Hunter Lovins, and Allison MacFarlane — and uses their collective wisdom to tackle this pressing question from several angles. The experts predict what a world without oil, which is estimated to run out in 50 years, would be like. What new energy alternatives are available? The use of hydrogen and fuel cells is examined, with surprising conclusions. Fresh, efficient prose makes the experts' controversial answers readable and engaging, as well as thought provoking.