Often, the absence of one of these pieces – financing or policy – is the reason for delaying the other. Successful retrofit policy relies on adequate funding and financing support for building owners, but the market is unlikely to offer it if there isn’t enough demand, which is driven by regulation, and the cycle continues. The good news? A lack of financing is no longer a valid reason to delay regulation.  

There are a variety of public and private financing and incentive programs already open to building owners – many of which are actively seeking more projects than the market is currently producing. And, for some building upgrades, the initial costs aren’t that steep. 

Financing and incentive programs available to building owners to support retrofits include: 

• Efficiency Capital: Their Energy-As-A-Service program supports projects with a $500,000 minimum, requires no upfront capital, and helps to manage capital, risk, and capacity 
• SOFIAC: Supports projects with a $3 million minimum, providing 100% coverage with no impact on debt ratios with reimbursement based on actual energy savings 
• Scotiabank: Recent Canada Infrastructure Bank partnership provides low-cost loans available to Scotiabank clients aiming for a minimum 30% emissions reduction 
• Utility incentives: The gas demand side management programs and incentives from Enbridge are available for retrofit projects targeting energy savings and emissions reductions, while IESO’s Save on Energy Programs provide a variety of financial incentives and training 
• Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit: EY provided an overview of the available but underused federal tax credits, including the Clean Technology credit that offers up to a 30% rebate of capital costs for low-carbon equipment like heat pumps and solar and storage  

The capital is ready, but we need policy certainty and market activation to really scale retrofits and reap the benefits as a society. For example, Toronto is in process of developing a potential BEPS bylaw that is intended to target buildings with the highest emissions levels, setting gradually tougher targets over time. Our analysis shows that 85% of proposed BEPS-eligible buildings already meet the draft initial emissions target. And of the remaining 15% of buildings that would need to undertake work to meet the initial target, 10% only need small upgrades and repairs. Only 5% of BEPS-eligible buildings – about 350 buildings overall – would need major, capital-intensive retrofits. 

For those remaining major retrofits, support is available through City programs and TAF. Through our Retrofit Accelerator, funded by NRCan’s Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative, we can fund up to 75% of non-capital expenses, covering things like decarbonization studies, social contracting labour, and retrofit design work. The City of Toronto makes low interest loans available for retrofits to all building types, through its Energy Retrofit Loan and High Rise Retrofit Improvement Support programs.   

Retrofits that include fuel-switching, deep energy efficiency improvements, or renewable energy generation can be capital intensive but deliver lasting rewards. Between national financing programs, provincial incentives, and locally targeted Retrofit Accelerators across the country, there’s a wide supply of retrofit support for building owners to draw from. What’s most needed now to scale retrofits is regulatory clarity and corporate commitments. There’s unlikely to be a bottleneck for capital – when regulation is clear and demand grows, even more capital will flow.   

Details on available financing options were drawn from a recent BOMA Toronto event focused on how to finance decarbonization projects, where experts discussed these as solutions to real life funding challenges that local building owners have faced.

And it was still painful. If someone like me barely made it through the process, how are we expecting the average homeowner to follow through? 

Of the 400,000 low-rise homes in Toronto, only 1,500-2,500 rooftops in the city have solar panels. The GTHA has similarly low numbers, estimated at well below 1%.  

The low rate of solar adoption is a problem given Ontario’s growing electricity needs. The provincial grid is getting dirtier at exactly the moment it needs to get cleaner. And rooftop solar is the fastest way to add clean capacity without waiting for costly utility-scale projects. 

Why solar? The benefits go far beyond emissions.

1. Solar can be built faster than large power plants

Conventional utility‑scale generation takes many years (even decades) to plan, approve, and construct. Rooftop solar can be installed in weeks. It scales quickly, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, keeping pace with local population growth and incremental demand. In a period where Ontario needs new supply urgently, speed matters.

2. Solar reduces pressure on transmission and distribution systems

Every kilowatt-hour generated on a rooftop is one that doesn’t need to travel long distances across expensive infrastructure. Distributed solar helps defer costly system upgrades by generating electricity where it is needed, easing the burden on the transmission and distribution network. That means savings for ratepayers and a more efficient grid overall.

3. Solar improves community resilience

Extreme weather—heat waves, floods, wildfires, and storms—is becoming more frequent. Local generation reduces reliance on long‑distance power lines that are vulnerable to disruption. When paired with battery storage, rooftop solar can help keep essential loads running during outages, strengthening neighbourhood‑level resilience.

4. Solar empowers households to participate in the energy transition 

Many people want to take climate action but feel stuck. Going solar empowers homeowners to generate their own energy and join a larger movement toward distributed local energy. Solar also triggers other household decisions to reduce emissions; the business case improves when solar is paired with other home electrification measures and energy efficiency.  

So why isn’t everyone going solar? 

While the costs have gone down significantly, the upfront capital is a huge barrier for most people. And even for those who can get financing or pay up front, the process of getting connected in Ontario is harder than it should be. There are currently no attractive incentives available, and homeowners face confusing rules, financial and technical complexity, and a lack of trusted guidance. Don’t even get us started on access for renters and multi-family buildings (TAF’s usual focus) — the regulatory environment is currently prohibitive. 

At TAF, we see rooftop solar and home storage as a critical part of the solution, but many interested homeowners face unnecessary barriers. That’s why we’re launching the Home Solar Accelerator: a free, non‑profit service that helps GTHA residents navigate the entire solar journey with confidence. 

TAF is working on both sides of the problem to help scale solar and storage

Behind the scenes, we collaborate with municipalities, utilities, and provincial policymakers to advocate for: 

• Streamlined permitting and interconnection
• More consistent rules and fees across regions
• Better user experience for homeowners and contractors
• A regulatory environment that supports distributed energy
• A fairer system where renters can participate 

We’re meeting all kinds of innovative and motivated people within these institutions who are making great progress. But system change takes time, and we need more solar now. 

Enter the Home Solar Accelerator! 

TAF’s program offers free, personalized, end‑to‑end support from a dedicated advisor who guides homeowners through assessment and a quote comparison from three high-quality installers. Our goal is to enable at least 1,000 rooftop solar systems, or over 8 megawatts of clean, local power installed across the GTHA in four years. From there, we aim to see solar and storage scale even further. 

Ontario needs more electricity. Let’s build it in a way that benefits our neighbours.  Sign up here to get the exclusive scoop on the Home Solar Accelerator on launch day.  

An update on my solar journey: Once our project got connected, it was smooth sailing. I finally get to live-monitor my panels like I’ve dreamed about for over a decade. Now, if I could only understand my utility bill…

Photos from my 7.6 kW system in Little Portugal, Toronto, June 2025.

What if the housing push had an impact bigger than just new homes? 

Our communities are growing, and municipalities across the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA) are pursuing ambitious targets to meet Ontario’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes, not to mention the transportation, electricity, water and waste management infrastructure they need. At the national level, the newly formed Build Canada Homes has $13 billion to accelerate housing construction, amid historic lows in sales and high construction costs.  

Our existing building stock also requires attention. Across Ontario, more than 1.8 million homes, including apartments, were built before 1980, before modern energy codes. They need to be renovated and upgraded to continue to provide comfortable and efficient places for people to live and work. 

Despite the global nature of technologies and materials, construction work remains inherently local. The work gets done in-place, on-site, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. That creates a pivotal opportunity, with housing targets, aging building stocks, shifting trade realities, and political attention aligned, to turn today’s housing challenges into long‑term economic and community benefits. But only if we act with coordination and intention.  

A homegrown opportunity for jobs, the economy and a healthy, green future 

It surprised me to learn that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up more than 99% of Ontario construction-related firms. Initial research by BDC indicates that it’s also a far-reaching sector as you look at it more closely. It includes freight companies that keep materials moving; companies that employ labourers and tradespeople; contractors building and renovating homes for families and commerce; suppliers and innovators of materials, equipment and technology; maintenance and repair technicians looking after the buildings where Ontarians live and work; and many more. 

These businesses are the kinds of job creators and community anchors targeted in recent provincial and federal workforce development programs to attract people to the sector and supporting up-skilling. However, they are largely limited to supporting workers – not the workplace, employers, and industries who need to be ready to hire people and support their careers. The strategic supports which GTHA SMEs in the construction industry need for growth and modernization remain fragmented and unmet.  

A construction ecosystem already exists in the GTHA. It is made up of longstanding players, new entrants, local leaders and global networks. This includes companies like Rockwool, the Canadian subsidiary of a Danish company, located in Milton for over 35 years and employing over 270 people, to newer businesses like Assembly Corps and Goldfinch Energy bringing industrialized construction innovation, electrification and efficiency services and products, new jobs and skilled trades, and advanced building technology to the market.  

Turning development demand into local prosperity 

A regional economic development strategy would be a very powerful tool at this time. Such a strategy could connect disparate efforts and navigate significant forces both driving and slowing us, with a goal of supporting the Ontario construction sector to deliver the sustainable and prosperous communities we seek. 

It could include tactics that would ensure that local companies win local work and support competitive opportunities for GTHA businesses to serve wider markets. Our SMEs could immediately benefit from dedicated supports for business growth like financing and advisory services, that are needed now. It could emphasize renovation and retrofit strategies for existing buildings like Building Performance Standards to help sustain the construction sector at a time when new development is slow. It could reduce red tape for rapidly expanding technologies like heat pumps, develop interprovincial and global export pathways for locally grown solutions, and offer incentives to attract business and create strategic trade partnerships where we have gaps.  

Last year, TAF held several conversations and roundtables with the GTHA’s economic development leaders, industry associations, and government partners to explore these observations more deeply. Participants quickly highlighted the fit with their priorities, as well as the need for shared data, a unified understanding of the region’s economic opportunity and coordinated tools to support local economic development as well as foreign partnerships.  

As the GTHA’s climate agency, TAF understands that buildings are the largest source of fossil fuel use today and that transforming them is essential to ensuring healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities across Ontario. Meeting this challenge is not only about keeping pace with construction needs; it’s about doing so with a Made-in-Ontario approach that strengthens our entrepreneurs, businesses, and workforce for decades to come. All orders of government have a pivotal role to play in enabling this shift. By aligning behind a regional strategy, governments can help enable the construction sector’s future, including its continued contribution to local economies, and position Ontario as a leader in clean growth. 

“As organizations working to protect the health of people in Canada and tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions, we welcome the federal government’s new automotive strategy and the return of rebates that make electric vehicles more affordable.  

“Our support for the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard (EVAS) has always been grounded in its clear benefits for human health and the climate. The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) analysis, based on Health Canada data, showed the EVAS in its original form would result in $90 billion in health benefits for Canadians over the next 25 years, preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths, and avoiding 362 megatonnes of carbon emissions and harmful air pollution.  

“The government’s new strategy, which replaces the EVAS with strengthened vehicle emissions standards, risks compromising these significant health and climate benefits. Historically, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles have been ineffective in reducing emissions, achieving only 1% fleetwide reductions since 2011. If strengthened vehicle emissions standards are to achieve comparable climate and health benefits to the EVAS, a new and more ambitious approach is clearly needed. New measures are also needed to ensure the availability of EVs, otherwise restored incentives will lead to long waiting lists and uneven access across provinces.  

“That’s why our coalition is calling on the federal government to promptly consult on and implement ambitious greenhouse gas regulations aligned with the EU vehicle safety and emission regulations. Alignment with EU standards will allow for faster regulation development while expanding access to affordable EVs in Canada.  

“We encourage the Government of Canada to act swiftly in implementing these measures. Accelerating the shift to electric vehicles will boost Canada’s competitiveness, strengthen public health, ease pressure on our healthcare system, and cut greenhouse gas emissions — benefits that will be felt by everyone in Canada.” 

Coalition Signatories

• Bryan Purcell, VP Policy and Programs, The Atmospheric Fund (TAF)  
• Jeffrey Beach, President and CEO, Asthma Canada  
• Robb Barnes, Climate Program Director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
• Sarah Butson, CEO, The Canadian Lung Association
• Ian Culbert, Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
• Doris Grinspun, CEO, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario  

Put differently, rather than framing the issue as traffic congestion, it’s about focusing on expanding access to destinations while managing growth in overall vehicle-kilometres travelled (VKT) that will move the needle on decarbonization and traffic. Fortunately, municipalities have many tools to help do this.  

5 recommendations to get cities moving 

Public Transit: While major capital expansions draw headlines, municipalities should take a rider’s perspective and not lose sight of the basics: frequency, speed and reliability. The TTC’s strong bus ridership – among the highest in North America – shows how high-frequency, all-day service attracts riders. Suburban municipalities like Brampton have likewise earned international praise for ridership gains driven by service frequency. 

With recent media focus on the new Finch West LRT’s lower-than-expected operating speeds, now is the time for GTHA municipalities to double down on making transit competitive through transit priority infrastructure and operational investments. In this municipal budget season, it’s always worth a reminder that if buses run faster, transit agencies can provide the same frequency with fewer vehicles, meaning lower operating costs without cutting service.

Short Trips: Does your municipality have a target for shifting short trips away from driving? Toronto has set a goal that 75% of trips under 5 km be made by non-auto modes like walking, cycling and transit. This sidesteps the common dismissal about trips in North American cities being too long to walk or cycle.  

Getting people out of cars for short trips is low-hanging fruit: focus on neighbourhood-level mobility, including safer cycling routes, traffic-calmed walking connections, and shared micromobility systems (like bike and scooter share) that make short daily travel easier for people of all ages and abilities.  

Parking: Outdated parking requirements inflate housing costs and reinforce car dependency. Modernized parking policies can give developers flexibility while ensuring parking exists where needed. Toronto’s elimination of minimum parking mandates in 2022 is a compelling example for other GTHA municipalities to follow.  

TAF can help municipalities explore policy pathways – from updating zoning bylaws to piloting innovative parking management tools – that reflect modern travel patterns and reduce costs for all.  

Shared Mobility: Sharing (our transportation) is caring (for the climate). Bikeshare, carshare, and carpooling all make more efficient use of public space, money, and infrastructure. And don’t forget the original shared mobility mode, public transit itself.  

Municipalities should continue scaling shared mobility options and removing barriers to adoption in partnership with the private sector.  

Goods movement: Rising ecommerce and “just-in-time” delivery mean freight emissions are becoming as critical as passenger emissions. As delivery trips replace personal errands, municipalities must ensure net emissions do not rise. 

A renewed focus on freight emissions can consider urban consolidation centres to reduce duplicative trips and empty-vehicle travel; cargo e-bikes and micro-hubs for first/last-mile delivery in urban centres; modernized curb management; and of course the electrification of commercial fleets, supported by charging infrastructure.  

Two Cross-cutting Suggestions:

• Data hygiene: Reliable, accessible data is key to tracking and accelerating decarbonization progress. Identify what transportation data your municipality needs, build strong systems for collecting and stewarding it, and publish it (e.g. open data) so partners can develop solutions and help surface insights. 

• Dogfooding: A concept borrowed from the tech sector, “dogfooding” means using the product you’re building. Ride your transit system. Try a bikeshare or carshare. Take your colleagues on field trips. Municipal leaders who have an on-the-ground understanding of their transportation system will be best positioned to improve it.  

Do you have an idea to reduce transportation emissions?

As a regional climate non-profit, TAF offers various support for your  decarbonization journey. We provide policy and program design guidance for GTHA municipalities, grant funding, financing, and convening experts across sectors. Reach out to share your ideas and roadblocks – we’d love to work with you.  

Contact Adam Rosenfield, TAF’s new Director of Clean Transportation at [email protected].

For municipalities, academics, energy consultants, and developers, this update is more than a technical revision — it’s a policy signal. The federal government is acknowledging what cities have been acting on for years: GHG emissions are a building code issue, and codes must evolve to support climate‑aligned development. 

A clear step forward: What’s new in the 2025 codes

The Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes (CBHCC) outlines several significant changes that reshape expectations for new construction: 

1. Operational GHG limits become a formal requirement

Both the National Building Code (NBC) and the National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) now include performance and prescriptive requirements to limit operational GHG emissions. This is the first time GHG emissions have been embedded directly into the national model codes, moving climate considerations from the margins into the core of regulatory practice. 

The codes also incorporate updated climatic data that reflect projected future conditions. This shift acknowledges that buildings must be designed for the climate they will operate in — not from decades past. 

2. An optional Energy Use Intensity (EUI) pathway

The codes introduce an EUI‑based compliance path for several building types like offices, schools, multi-family buildings, housing, and small buildings (NECB and NBC). This gives designers and developers a flexible, performance‑driven option that aligns with how many municipalities already structure their Green Development Standards (GDS). 

3. Prescriptive compliance for energy performance tiers

The national codes maintain the tiered performance framework — four tiers for large buildings and five tiers for small buildings. This structure creates a built‑in roadmap for progressively higher performance and offers a ready‑made mechanism for provinces to enable local leadership while maintaining consistency.  

The codes also now include prescriptive options for Energy Performance Tiers 1 and 5, providing clearer, more predictable pathways for compliance. This is particularly important for industry, which has long asked for harmonized, transparent requirements across jurisdictions. 

4. Inclusion of existing buildings 

While optional for adoption, the new Part 10 introduces a framework for alterations to existing buildings. This signals a broader move toward lifecycle‑based regulation, something municipalities have been advocating for as they work to decarbonize their building stock. 

Why this matters for cities 

Municipalities across Canada and the GTHA have been advancing Green Development Standards (GDS) for years. These local standards include GHG performance metrics and design requirements that don’t exist in most provincial codes. Some cities like Vancouver and Toronto have also developed or begun developing standards for existing buildings.  

The national update validates this municipal leadership. By embedding GHG emissions directly into the model codes, the federal government is effectively acknowledging that: 

• GHG emissions are a building performance issue 
• Codes and standards must address climate impacts 
• Municipal innovation has been directionally correct 

This alignment strengthens the policy foundation for cities that have been pushing the envelope on modern development.  

The tiered structure of the national codes is especially important for municipalities.  

If Ontario were to adopt multiple tiers, they could then allow municipalities to select the tier that best fits their local context. This would create a consistent provincial framework while preserving municipal ambition. The BC Energy Step Code has already demonstrated that this model works: the province sets the tiers, and municipalities choose the level that aligns with their climate goals and market readiness. The 2025 national codes make it straightforward for Ontario to adopt a similar approach.  

Federal–municipal alignment: A signal to industry 

Developers have long called for harmonization across jurisdictions. Fragmented requirements—federal model codes, provincial codes, and municipal GDS—should be coordinated and complimentary.  

The 2025 model codes send a clear message that Canada is moving toward a unified, modern regulatory framework for buildings. 

Federal and municipal priorities are now visibly aligned on: 

• Reducing operational GHG emissions 
• Providing EUI and GHGi based compliance options 
• Supporting electrification and low‑carbon design 
• Offering tiered performance levels

This alignment reduces risk for developers and consultants, who can now plan for a future where GHG performance is a standard part of code compliance. 

Provincial participation 

While the national model codes set the direction, provinces control adoption—and this is where the gap remains. Some provinces have been slow to update their building codes or have resisted integrating GHG metrics. Ontario has long exempted itself from energy and GHG (and many other) aspects of the national code, and has also introduced legislation that may limit municipal green standards.  

For developers working across multiple jurisdictions, this inconsistency is a barrier to investment and long‑term planning. It also saddles building owners and residents with poorer assets that are more expensive to operate.  

Adopting the national tier framework would give provinces a practical path forward. By enabling municipalities to select from provincially adopted tiers, provinces could support both harmonization and local leadership. This approach would reduce regulatory conflict, provide industry with clarity, and align Ontario with a model already proven in B.C. 

If provinces want to support industry certainty, climate goals, and economic competitiveness, they need to move in step with the federal direction and the leadership shown by cities. 

A step toward true harmonization 

The 2025 National Model Codes represent a major step toward a unified, modern building regulatory system. They embed GHG performance into the heart of code compliance, offer flexible pathways like EUI, and provide prescriptive clarity that industry has long requested. 

But harmonization — a top priority for developers — will only be achieved if provinces adopt and implement these changes into their building codes in a timely and consistent way. 

Ontario’s electricity system is in flux. The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is working to procure new generation to meet rising demand, while emissions from the grid are climbing due to gas-fired generation expansion. The choices made today will determine whether Ontario can achieve a clean grid again—or lock communities into decades of higher pollution and stranded assets. 

Municipal gatekeepers of new generation

Under current rules, new electricity projects must receive a municipal support resolution before they can move forward. This makes sense as communities hosting projects should have a say in what gets built. Local governments are closest to residents, and their input is vital for ensuring projects respect ecosystems, land use, and community health. 

But municipalities are being asked to make decisions with limited time, capacity, and technical support. In some cases, councils have only weeks to evaluate complex proposals. Instead of independent analysis, they often receive glossy presentations or “greenwashing” statements from developers. One gas company even misrepresented a TAF research report to justify their proposal, even though the report actually raised alarm bells about rising electricity emissions and recommended against new gas plants. A recent BESS project proposal in Napanee was rejected because of a public misinformed about the risks. This imbalance of information risks skewing decisions away from the public good.  

Rooftop solar success shows what’s possible

Not all municipalities are closing the door on clean energy. Encouragingly, five cities and towns (Mississauga, Whitby, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Caledon) have passed resolutions supporting new solar projects. Toronto has gone further, adopting a blanket resolution to support all project clean energy proposals. These decisions show that local leaders are seeing the value of solar for their communities and aligning energy decisions with their climate commitments.  

Most of these projects are rooftop installations around one megawatt in size. While they cannot match the economies of scale of large ground-mounted solar farms, they provide unique value to the grid. Electricity generated in urbanized areas avoids transmission losses—up to 10% of power is lost moving electricity over long distances. Rooftop projects also minimize land-use conflicts and tend to be less controversial with residents. (Ground-mounted solar on prime agriculture land is currently banned by the province).

The rise of gas and the risks ahead

Backsliding is happening at the same time. More than 20 recent municipal support resolutions for new natural gas projects have already been passed under the IESO’s LT2 procurement. Gas plants have been greenlit in places like Leamington and St. Clair Township. While these projects may appear to solve immediate reliability concerns, they saddle communities with assets that will become increasingly uneconomic as regulation comes into play and clean energy costs continue to fall. They also add local air pollution, undermining public health. 

Meanwhile, renewable projects face steep resistance. According to Wind Concerns Ontario, of 20 recent wind proposals, only three received municipal approval, two of which were withdrawn due to community opposition. At least 159 councils have gone further, passing blanket resolutions to reject all wind projects outright. While local concerns about siting and environmental impacts deserve consideration, blanket rejections ignore the evidence: wind and solar are the lowest-cost sources of electricity available. Rejecting wind completely risks leaving Ontario on the hook to pay for polluting, outdated gas plants. 

The bigger picture: Aligning local and provincial goals

Ontario’s electricity system needs cost-effective, non-emitting generation to meet demand growth without increasing emissions. Yet the current municipal resolution process is producing outcomes that tilt toward gas and away from renewables. This misalignment threatens reliability, cost, and climate objectives. 

The solution is not to remove municipal input, but to strengthen it. Municipalities need better tools, resources, and supports to evaluate projects. Independent technical assessments, standardized information packages, and longer timelines would help councils make decisions based on facts rather than marketing. Provincial agencies and utilities can play a role by providing clear, accessible data on the costs, benefits, and risks of different generation options. 

Municipalities can get help here

In partnership with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and SSG Climate Solutions, TAF developed a multi-criteria analysis tool to support municipalities in proposal evaluation. TAF also has a policy team and grants program here to support municipalities with clean electrification. Get in touch more information.  

“We welcome today’s climate action plan and commend the Infrastructure and Environment Committee for restoring the inclusion of Building Emissions Performance Standards (BEPS).  

“Councillor Paula Fletcher’s motion on the floor ensures BEPS will move forward with consultation, economic and legal analysis, and tenant protections, while calling on federal and provincial governments to expand funding for building upgrades. The motion directs staff to report back in 2027, setting an expectation across the industry that a BEPS policy will be brought forward for council consideration at that time.  

“Councillor Dianne Saxe also moved a motion to enhance other aspects of the climate action plan, including by strengthening Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking program, enhancing supports for low-carbon new construction, and addressing red-tape barriers to climate action. These additions will significantly strengthen the plan.  

“Today’s encouraging outcome reflects the strong support voiced by industry and community stakeholders. Dozens of deputations and letters from building owners, tenants’ organizations, engineers, architects, construction firms, financial experts, and citizens made clear that the sector is ready for BEPS.  

“BEPS is a practical, proven tool to reduce carbon emissions, cut utility costs, and create local economic opportunity by scaling up large building retrofits. BEPS will ensure better buildings in Toronto and set the standard for the rest of the region. 

“The reinstatement of BEPS, albeit on a delayed timeline, is encouraging, but we are concerned that the climate action plan overall fails to align with Toronto’s climate targets. Emissions have been increasing steadily for the last four years, and the City’s modeling shows Toronto will fall short of its 2030 and 2040 climate targets. Restoring BEPS into the plan will significantly shrink the emissions gap, but more action will be needed—from all levels of government—to get on track for net zero. 

“TAF looks forward to working with the City, Toronto Hydro, and all stakeholders to advance BEPS, strengthen the Net Zero Strategy Action Plan, and expand complementary measures such as the Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking program. Together, we can make Toronto’s buildings healthier, more affordable, and lower carbon — improving quality of life for everyone who lives and works in our city.”