Responding to REALPAC Paper “DECARBONIZING CANADA’S BUILDINGS: THE OWNER & INVESTOR PERSPECTIVE”

Purpose congratulates REALPAC, the PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute and the Canada Green Building Council on the release of their report Decarbonizing Canada’s Buildings: The Owner & Investor Perspective. Purpose was pleased to contribute our insights to this initiative. The report provides actionable recommendations for the commercial real estate (CRE) industry, governments and financial institutions to accelerate decarbonization.

All of the recommendations in the above report are designed to deal with market barriers that currently exist. We support taking action to resolve these.

We recommend that, like the committed climate leaders in real estate that we are supporting, organizations prioritize the following tactics from the report to accelerate decarbonizing assets within the current market conditions:  

1.      Align company policies and practices with achieving low carbon targets alongside financial targets

2.      Develop costed low carbon transition plans for portfolios/assets and integrate them into capital plans.

3.      Pilot fuel-switching projects and share technology best practices.  

Feel free to ask us about our tools, resources and experience, that can help you succeed with these actions now. This includes early adopter financial incentives that we have accessed for our clients, this has allowed us to source funding for 80% of our current projects.

While we drive success in the current market, we are also aware that advocacy is needed to effectively change the market. The financial institutions serving the CRE industry need to initiate or expand practices to deliver emissions reduction at a pace that meets their net zero commitments (generally about 50% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050). Now is the time to make the case to them that to deliver those reductions in the required timeframe, the CRE industry needs:

1.      Better terms for financing on retrofits and developments with verified low carbon performance

2.      Use the combined policy influence of the financial and real estate sector at all levels of government to expand access to low-carbon electricity and support building electrification.

By taking action together – CRE owners and investors, government and financial institutions – we can continue accelerating positive outcomes for the industry and the planet.

The report is available for download here: https://decarbonizebuildings.ca/