CAGBC launches national workshop series for transition planning, a core CRE strategy

February 3, 2026 (Ottawa, Ontario) – Canada’s building and real estate sector is facing a convergence of forces that is fundamentally reshaping how buildings are planned, financed, and managed. Tightening regulations, rising climate risk, capital constraints, and growing pressure to future-proof assets are driving a shift away from short-term value creation toward long-term financial and operational resilience.

As a result, transition planning, historically viewed primarily as an Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) or regulatory compliance exercise, is rapidly being adopted as a core business strategy in commercial real estate. Owners and investors are increasingly using transition plans to guide capital allocation decisions for building retrofits, repositioning, reuse, and redevelopment.

A well-constructed transition plan provides a cost-effective pathway to improve asset value and operational performance, while lowering carbon emissions, mitigating climate-related risks, and supporting compliance with evolving building codes such as the National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB), with other energy regulations, benchmarking, and building performance standards. However, uncertainty around return on investment, financing hurdles, regional regulatory variation, and rapidly evolving technologies have made transition planning a complicated puzzle to solve, especially at the portfolio level.  

As owner demand for clarity grows, transition planning is quickly becoming a core competency for architects, engineers, and consultants advising on real estate asset strategies and solutions.

“Canada’s commercial real estate industry is increasingly facing transition and physical risks associated with climate change,” says Thomas Mueller, President & CEO of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC). “Long-term financial and operational resilience is becoming a primary driver of building portfolio strategy. Professionals who can effectively support transition planning will be best positioned to support owners in managing these emerging risks.”

Industry responds with national training series

In response to these growing pressures and complexities, CAGBC is launching a series of transition planning workshops with support from RDH Building Science Inc.

Hosted by CAGBC in Vancouver, Montréal, Toronto and Calgary, the limited series of Transition Planning Now Workshops aim to enhance sector confidence and foster increased collaboration among architects, engineers, sustainability consultants, and building owners to implement feasible and actionable transition plans.

Facilitated by a multidisciplinary team of professionals from RDH, the sessions will feature scenario-based training and emphasize peer-to-peer collaborations.

“Transition planning is not about making one big move. It is a series of planned interventions at specific moments in time,” says Mark Hutchinson, Senior Vice President of Green Building Programs & Innovation at CAGBC. “Every building has its own logical path to follow, based on location, availability of financing, and the life cycles of existing equipment. We designed these resources and the accompanying workshops to focus on aligning capital planning with sustainability and climate-related pressures, ensuring opportunities to enhance asset value are not missed.”

Clearing the path for more informed decision making across Canada

The Transition Planning Now Workshops will equip building sector professionals and consultants with practical and data-driven tools to help facilitate informed decisions about energy transition and climate-related risks, while also supporting business and asset management strategies. The workshops align with the CAGBC Carbon Transition Planning Guide, a step-by-step framework for transition planning from CAGBC and RDH. Addressing a diversity of building types and ownership models, key components of the workshops include:

• Scenario-based training to help anticipate what challenges may come up and how to address them with diverse stakeholders and project teams.

• Exploring strategies for integrating climate adaptation and resilience measures into transition plans, ensuring alignment with capital renewal cycles, funding opportunities, and certification pathways.

• Reviewing case studies and evolving market drivers and risk factors alongside jurisdictional requirements (such as NECB and performance standards) on project strategy and long-term asset value.

“There have been many opportunities for the industry to learn about building decarbonization and transition planning, but the gap this training fills is the hands-on problem-solving experience, and exposure to different, and potentially conflicting needs and perspectives encountered on real projects,” says Bailey Brown, Principal and Specialist at RDH. “The Transition Planning Now workshops are designed to ensure participants walk away with a broader network, new tools and more confidence for advising building owners on their transition planning and retrofit strategies.”

Transition Planning Now workshop details

Four-hour in-person training sessions will be organized around scenario-based activities and peer-to-peer learning. Breakfast and lunch are included for additional networking opportunities.

Locations and Dates:

• Vancouver, BC – February 25, 2026 – Simon Fraser University (Downtown Campus)
• Calgary, AB – March 3, 2026, BMO Centre Calgary Exhibition and Stampede,
• Toronto, ON – March 24, 2026, Sheraton Centre
• Montréal, QC – March 26, 2026, Hotel Courtyard Marriott Montreal Centre-Ville

Free informational webinar

Interested participants can also attend a free webinar on February 18 to learn more about the workshop series, CAGBC’s Carbon Transition Planning Guide, REALPAC‘s upcoming asset-specific Climate Risk Playbooks, and key learnings from engagement sessions on how to address transition planning with commercial, non-profit, municipal, and Indigenous community-owned buildings.

For more information or to register for a workshop visit TransitionPlanningNow.ca.

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About Transition Planning Now

Transition Planning Now is an initiative led by the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) and supported by REALPAC, the national association representing executives and decision-makers in the Canadian commercial real estate industry. Funded by Natural Resources Canada through Codes Acceleration Fund, Transition Planning Now is  a project aimed at supporting existing building owners in adoption of and compliance with the highest performance tiers of the National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) and other regional high-performance building codes, regulations, and programs that can drive emission reductions from the built environment.

About CAGBC

The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) makes sustainability a competitive advantage. As Canada’s leading authority on green building, we accelerate and advocate for energy-efficient, low-carbon buildings. We provide solutions that strengthen asset value, increase climate resilience and occupant comfort, and reduce environmental impacts.

About RDH

RDH is a leading building science consulting and engineering firm that specializes in advancing climate‑responsive, low‑carbon, and energy‑efficient building solutions. With specialists located across North America, we bring together deep expertise in building enclosure engineering, energy and climate solutions, façade engineering, structural engineering, construction management, training, and educational resource development.

Drawing on our interdisciplinary knowledge and experience in architecture, design, construction, and building operations, RDH supports the development of buildings that are comfortable, durable, and high‑performing. Our work is grounded in a future‑focused mission: to help create buildings that meet today’s needs while remaining adaptable to evolving technologies, environmental conditions, and climate realities.