The April 8th Ontario Climate Caucus meeting focused on Green Standards and how they play a role in advancing climate action within the new building sector.

• Green Standards Background (pdf of presentation) (recording of presentation)
• Whitby Green Standard Presentation (pdf of presentation) (recording of presentation)
• Meeting Discussion

Resources

• Link to Green Development Standards Toolkit
  
• Link to CAC Input on Ontario Building Code
  
• Link to CAC Input on National Model Building Code
• More information on National Model Building Code
• Link to Info on Whitby Green Standard
  
• Link to Info on Toronto Green Standard
• Link to info on Richmond Hill Sustainability Metrics
  
• Link to Info on Vaughan Sustainability Metrics
  
• Link to Info on Brampton Sustainability Metrics
  
• Link to Info on Halton Hills Green Development Standards

Issue: RESCON Letter to Province

Submission to the Minister of Finance ahead of the Ontario budget (Oct 14):

2. ADDRESS MUNICIPAL OVERREACH A significant impediment to a more streamlined development approvals process in Ontario is municipal overreach, especially regarding green building standards that are beyond the Ontario Building Code (OBC). This is becoming an increasingly concerning trend as more and more GTA municipalities, including City of Toronto, have, or continue to, develop their own unique municipal green requirements. These municipal requirements create issues for industry builders in terms of policy confusion and duplication of regulations vis-à-vis the OBC but also in terms of negatively impacting housing affordability, building costs and convoluting the approvals process. Given the Canada-wide Building Code harmonization efforts currently underway, it is unnecessary and counterproductive for municipalities to undertake these divergent green building programs.

A. The Province should continue to support the Building Code harmonization efforts currently underway and explore ways to remind municipalities that the OBC supersedes all municipal bylaws and provides high level of energy efficiency.

Feedback re Municipal Green Standard alignment with National Model Building Code and why it makes sense for municipalities to have the ability to advance higher standards at a smaller scale than the province.

• That the Code be adopted by Ontario to ensure consistency across the country (with Ontario choosing the highest level possible based on the market's ability to respond to that requirement). The goal is not to go backwards from where the OBC is at present on energy efficiency since we know the market is able to meet that level.
• That Ontario turn the energy metric to an emissions metric in order to align energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction targets.
• If the province of Ontario fails to change the energy metric to an emission metric then municipalities should have the authority to change the energy metric to an emissions metric and that they should also have the authority to mandate a higher standard than required at the provincial level in order to drive market advancements at a smaller scale.
• It is recognized that when the Province sets mandatory standards within the Ontario Building Code it has to take a very large geographical area with varying markets and capacity into consideration. As such, the Province is required to set the Building Code at a level that can be achieved across that very large geographical area. By providing municipalities with the authority to mandate above the base requirements within the Ontario Building Code, Ontario municipalities can serve as living laboratories for energy efficiency, emissions reductions and climate change resilience innovation and thereby test and advance the market at a smaller scale. Successful adoption of standards at the municipal scale can then inform and be integrated into future updates to mandatory components of Ontario's Building Code thereby increasing capacity of the wider market more quickly and effectively across Ontario.