Commercial building owners across Canada face growing pressure to reduce the carbon emissions of their assets. Regulations are stacking up, shareholders are keeping a keen eye on annual reporting and stakeholders want to see changes that move the needle on climate action.
Elsewhere, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board released its draft standards for mandatory sustainability reporting for companies in Canada in March this year. These align with the standards published in 2023 by the International Sustainability Standards Board , where companies affected will have to disclose their Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse-gas emissions. That means decarbonization will not be a nice-to-have option, but a must-have for commercial building owners.
Energy efficiency remains the key. Finding ways to make our buildings—new and old—perform better eases the demand on the grid and supports the larger-scale transition from fossil fuels. Owners and operators can protect occupants from many hazards by designing buildings with passive survivability so they can still provide safe shelter when the power goes out. This can include designing buildings to let light and warmth in when needed, with strategic shading and orientation to keep the sun out during the hottest part of the day and year.