Best wishes for the holidays and New Year

On behalf of the CAGBC team, I would like to wish our members and stakeholders a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous and healthy New Year.

There’s no question that 2023 has been a challenging year from a geopolitical perspective with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. At home, rising inflation and housing affordability have dominated headlines and supplanted climate change as the top concern among Canadians. Yet, having just returned from the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, I am looking to 2024 with a measure of anticipation and hope.

Buildings were elevated at COP28 through the Buildings Breakthrough Initiative as playing a critical role in advancing carbon reduction and improving the lives of people all over the world. The Buildings Breakthrough Initiative is intended to increase the speed and scale of decarbonizing buildings. As part of the Initiative, Canada is showing global leadership in decarbonizing cement and concrete.

CAGBC continues to focus on accelerating green building by empowering the market with the products and training needed to achieve sustainability goals. Working with industry and government, we are developing the solutions the market needs to advance decarbonization and resiliency. Our targets are consistent with the global goals on zero operational carbon and a 40 percent reduction in embodied carbon by 2030.

I am proud of what we accomplished this year and excited about 2024 as climate action, resiliency and adaptation imperatives take hold in Canada’s building sector. We still have a long way to go but progress is being made like never before to decarbonize buildings across the globe.

Happy Holidays!

2023 Highlights

Leading Through Advocacy 

• The second annual Green Building Day on the Hill was a great success, with industry representatives meeting with Parliamentarians from all the major parties and public servants to discuss Canada’s green building sector.
• On March 27, 2023, CAGBC led an op-ed in support of an ambitious and well-funded Green Building Strategy. 41 industry associations and members signed alongside CAGBC.
• CAGBC and Canada’s Senior Trade Commissioner hosted Greenbuild attendees during a reception held at the Embassy of Canada, with attendance from senior representatives of the United States’ General Services Administration.  

Double Down on Decarbonization 

• Doubled the annual number of ZCB-Design certifications and tripled the annual number of ZCB-Performance certifications.
• Held stakeholder engagement sessions to inform the development of ZCB-Design v4. 
• Launched a new Zero Carbon Transition Planning Accelerator and an Embodied Carbon Technical Advisory Group to address two critical and rapidly evolving aspects of decarbonization.

Creating Market Opportunity

• Launched new National Issues Accelerators on Low Carbon Construction and Sustainable Financing to generate market-led solutions.
• Helped manufacturers prepare for green procurement requirements with the Manufacturer’s Kickstarter v2.
• Launched French versions of the popular Zero Carbon Building Standards Workshop. 

Advancing Green Building

• Significant Canadian participation in USGBC LEED v5 committees, and formation of two new accelerators to provide Canadian insight into the standard’s development process.
• Consulted on the development of the 2025 Model Codes.
• Collaborated with Canadian industry and green building councils worldwide to comment on developing international standards including GRESB, Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM). 

Learning with CAGBC

• CAGBC launched its new learning platform, delivering a more streamlined and modern experience for learners.
• Expanded on CAGBC’s private training delivery, with programs developed and delivered for YMCA, Canada Post, Canadian Nuclear Labs, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Ministry of the Environment (Quebec).
• Launched the free Low Carbon Training Program, funded in part by the Government of Canada. The program will reach 3,000+ learners and is supported by partners from across section the building and real estate sectors.

Learn more about opportunities to get involved with CAGBC at cagbc.org/get-involved.