Green building pioneers chart persuasive paths to profit

Jul 24

A birds’ eye view of EVE Park, an all-electric, net-zero residential development in London, Ontario, on June 21, 2024. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn for Canada's National Observer)

By Darius Snieckus

A new generation of developers and architects are designing a future for the building sector that is less polluting and still profitable.

Canada’s private sector has a “critical role” to play in promoting, adopting and investing in green buildings, says a new federal strategy. We talk to sustainable builders charting a profitable path in the emerging clean economy.

Decarbonizing Canada’s construction and building sector presents a wealth of opportunity for developers, architects, suppliers and workers in the emerging clean economy, the federal government said in its new Green Buildings Strategy released last week.

But while Ottawa agrees on the need to transform the highly polluting sector and the country’s built environment – the homes and offices where people live and work – to help meet Canada’s ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, it did not provide a concrete "road map" to get there, green building advocates said.

Greening an industrial engine that generates nearly 30 per cent of the country’s CO2 emissions - and more than 7 per cent of Canada’s economy - will cost tens of billions of dollars each year. It requires clear mandates and massive public spending.

Yet, as the strategy said: “Governments and utilities cannot shoulder this alone, and there is a need for investment from the private sector including financial institutions and businesses.”

Green building pioneers chart persuasive paths to profit

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