Global, national, and industry support
Climate change is a worldwide issue and actions to limit its effects are global undertakings. At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, world leaders signed an international legally binding treaty, now known as the Paris Agreement. Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C (3.6 F) above pre-industrial levels” and to pursue efforts limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 C (2.7 F).20
In 2019, the UNEP’s “Emissions Gap Report” research indicated that efforts were not on track to achieve the 1.5 C (2.7 F) goal. The report called for GHG emissions to drop 7.5 per cent per year through 2030. In recent years, new data have stressed the need for faster and deeper emission cuts to meet the 1.5 C (2.7 F) goal and to avoid severe climate change impacts.21
The UN’s “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report”22 called for more urgent worldwide action:
In this decade, accelerated action to adapt to climate change is essential to close the gap between existing adaptation and what is needed. Meanwhile, keeping warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid, and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors. Emissions should be decreasing by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5 C.
Over the years, Canada has followed through on its Paris commitments by investing more than $120 billion to reduce emissions, protect the environment, spur out clean technologies and innovation, and help Canadians and communities adapt to the impacts of climate change.23
The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, implemented in 2021, established the Government of Canada’s 2030 GHG target as Canada’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement—an emissions reduction target of 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The act also states Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.24
Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan includes several initiatives that will reduce emissions within the buildings sector, such as the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GCIB), which provides a funding of $1.5 billion to improve energy efficiency in community centres, sport facilities, and cultural spaces.25
The National Research Council Canada (NRC) supports the reduction of carbon emissions and transition to a green economy, as it conducts research and development on innovative construction materials and revitalizing national housing and building standards to encourage low-carbon construction solutions.26
As part of its 2023-24 departmental plan, the NRC will develop a Centre of Excellence in construction life-cycle assessment (LCA) to support industry development of low-carbon materials and solutions, and help other government departments create construction sector policies that involve lifecycle carbon. Research projects will be launched under the NRC platform to decarbonize Canada’s construction sector to reduce the carbon footprint of key structural materials, and use innovative components as alternatives for high embodied carbon materials with the aim of reducing the environmental footprint of buildings and infrastructure. Further, the NRC also will initiate the development of industry guidelines for low-carbon, federally funded projects for buildings and infrastructure.27
The NRC Codes Canada group acts as the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes (CBHCC) secretariat, which provides technical, policy, and administrative support, and publishes the National Model Codes. In early 2023, CBHCC began sharing draft policy recommendations for developing and implementing GHG emissions provisions in the National Model Codes. Operational carbon will be addressed in the 2025 codes and embodied carbon in the 2030 codes.28
