Through the planning process, the municipality can use GDS to create incentives or reduce barriers to developments that deliver social and economic benefits, as well as prepare the local market for higher levels of building energy performance. This includes ensuring that new buildings in their community deliver levels of building energy performance beyond the minimum standards of the provincially/territorially adopted building code.

GDS enable municipalities to quickly reduce energy waste and building emissions in the built environment and are a key accelerant that prepares the building sector, and the workforce, to deliver high-performance buildings at scale. They also signal to senior governments that Canadian municipalities demand more stringent building energy standards than those required by the national model codes system.