The Canada Green Building Council commends the Pan-Canadian Framework for its recognition of the building sector as an area critical to the reduction of emissions, as an aid in providing climate change resiliency, and as a means to driving innovation.
The Framework?s recommended actions for buildings include: making buildings more energy efficient, setting net zero targets, requiring building labeling, retrofitting existing buildings, and requiring federal government leadership in greening their own buildings. These actions were also key recommendations in the CaGBC?s recent Building Solutions to Climate Change report ? submitted to the Vancouver Declaration Working Group for Specific Mitigation Opportunities on behalf of the Canadian green building industry in September. By outlining a plan to make new buildings more energy efficient and setting net zero energy goals while also pledging federal investment in research, development and demonstration, along with industry cooperation, the Framework demonstrates a clear commitment to innovation that is necessary to making these actions a reality. The guidelines are in step with advances in the green building industry as shown with the CaGBC?s recent launch of Canada?s first Zero Carbon Initiative. This initiative is providing the market with a state-of -the-art guideline and, soon, the third-party verification and support required to make net zero carbon buildings readily achievable even before the 2030 guideline set out by the...