Canadian Task Force for a Resilient Recovery urges building retrofits
July 22, 2020 | By HPAC Magazine
The task force made six recommendations requiring a $27.3B federal investment related to improving the efficiency of the country's building stock.
An independent panel of experts making up the Canadian Task Force for a Resilient Recovery have released a preliminary report that includes “5 Bold Moves for a Resilient Recovery”, the first of which is a proposed $27.3B federal investment in climate-resilient and energy-efficient buildings. The building retrofit package serves as the keystone of a proposed total $49.9B clean economic recovery package.
The task force made six recommendations related to improving the efficiency of the country’s building stock:
- Expand public-private financing facilities for building retrofits using a $13B public investment to leverage $35B in private capital through de-risking and co-investment strategies.
- Spend $10B on expanding existing provincial and municipal building retrofit programs.
- Invest $1.25B in workforce development for energy efficiency and climate resiliency.
- Use $2B to select diverse large-scale demonstration projects through a competitive process, and apply innovative techniques to significantly reduce the cost, time and customer disruption of deep energy retrofits.
- Introduce new national model building code incorporating net-zero and resiliency measures in the next year, while also providing incentives for provincial uptake; and invest $2 million to integrate a ‘ResiliGuide’ rating to measure the climate resilience of buildings.
- Create an Indigenous Infrastructure Fund (a rotating $1B-per-year non-lapsing fund) to bolster investment in sustainable infrastructure in Indigenous communities across Canada.
The other recommended “Bold Moves” include:
- Jumpstart Canada’s production and adoption of zero-emission vehicles.
- Go big on growing Canada’s clean energy sectors.
- Invest in the nature that protects and sustains us.
- Grow clean competitiveness and jobs across the Canadian economy.
This is the preliminary report from the Task Force, and a final report and supporting materials are expected to be released in September.
Task Force for a Resilient Recovery Preliminary Report