100 buildings certified under ZCB-Standards

The Canada Green Building Council announces that 100 buildings have certified under the Zero Carbon Building Standards, a significant milestone that affirms the market’s interest in decarbonizing the Canadian building sector. Further, CAGBC shared that over 50 buildings have verified their annual zero-carbon operations through the Zero Carbon Building – Performance Standard. You can explore who is pursuing certification, where, and for what types of buildings in this short video.

“This is a significant milestone for the made-in-Canada Zero Carbon Building Standards. The Standards are empowering the market to make real change, providing building developers and owners a pathway to not only advance sustainability but also achieve meaningful carbon reductions,” said Mark Hutchinson, Vice President of Green Building Programs and Innovation at CAGBC. “The Standards continue to be a practical solution that helps pave the way for all buildings, both new and existing, to reach zero by 2050.”   

With the ZCB-Design Standard for new construction and retrofits, and ZCB-Performance Standard to verify annual operations, CAGBC has a proven pathway for almost any building to achieve decarbonization. Building owners pursuing Zero Carbon Building certification rely on the Standards to help them address embodied carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving certification demonstrates climate leadership and a commitment to sustainability by verifying climate change mitigation efforts at the building design stage or in annual operations.  

Contributing role of annual recertifications 

Owners of ZCB-Performance certified buildings recognize the value of annual certification to enhance asset value, attract high-value tenants and investors, and validate investments in sustainability. Recently, CAGBC honored The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation at Mohawk College and Le Phenix by Lemay, for becoming the first buildings to attain ZCB-Performance certification five years in a row.  

To date, ZCB-Performance certification has been awarded over 100 times among 54 different buildings. The number of annual recertifications is following an upward trajectory that supports the national commitment for decarbonizing the building sector.  

Accelerating the momentum  

New buildings and deep retrofits are certifying their designs to the ZCB-Design Standard in record numbers, and 61 have now been certified. With 182 additional buildings currently registered to pursue certification under the ZCB-Design Standard, the number of zero-carbon buildings will be growing. CAGBC will continue to deliver industry guidance and implementation support to enable Canada’s building sector to lead on decarbonization. 

In support of the needed industry shift, CAGBC is establishing a new Zero Carbon Transition Planning Accelerator. This committee complements the Zero Carbon Steering Committee, helping identify and address essential industry needs to decarbonize existing buildings effectively. The Accelerator will provide guidance and training for portfolio and asset-level Zero Carbon Transition Plans and foster alignment between programs and tools developed by organizations and jurisdictions across the country.  

CAGBC continues to offer educational webinars, workshops and collaborative discussion through our multi-format program, Accelerating to Zero (AtoZ). AtoZ programming provides opportunities to learn about strategic business considerations along the decarbonization journey, innovative solutions and technologies.

The Zero Carbon Building Program will also be front and centre at CAGBC’s Building Lasting Change (BLC) conference. Targeting real estate and green building professionals with business and technical streams, BLC will take place in downtown Toronto, June 5 and 6. At BLC, CAGBC will share insights from its ZCB-Design v4 Market Survey, and launch a new version of the ZCB-Design Standard. View the Conference Program here and register for BLC.