Economic and Job Creation Opportunities of Scaling Up Retrofits

Economic Development and Job Creation Opportunities from Scaling Up Building Retrofits

  • Most energy spending leaks out of local economies, particularly fossil fuel expenditures. Municipal Climate Action Plans (e.g., London and Vaughan) estimate that approximately 90% of energy spending leaves the local community, with the majority of fossil fuel spending leaving the province. Electricity spending remains more provincial, but still offers less local economic and job creation return than efficiency investments.
  • Retrofitting existing buildings for energy efficiency and decarbonization is a recognized requirement for achieving municipal GHG reduction targets. Equally important, retrofits represent a significant economic development and job creation opportunity, as retrofit products and services are largely sourced locally and the associated jobs cannot be outsourced.
  • Current retrofit rates are inadequate. At today's pace, full building decarbonization would take well over 100 years. Scaling up retrofits is therefore essential not only to meet climate targets, but also to capture the associated economic and employment benefits.
  • Ontario and Quebec offer the largest retrofit-driven economic and job creation potential in Canada due to the size and age of their building stock.
  • A key question for municipalities is how local retrofit uptake compares to provincial averages, and how this performance can be assessed and improved.
  • Many municipalities are addressing market barriers in retrofit programs and addressing gaps such as access to low-interest financing and customer navigation support. Municipal BetterHomes programs are operating in Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough, Durham Region, Huntsville, Dufferin County, London, Waterloo Region, and Guelph.
  • OCC members can use a sample resolution and background report to bring retrofit scale-up discussions to council and build support for a staff mandate to explore market-scaling opportunities that drive local economic development and job creation: https://docs.google.com/docume...
  • Climate Action Partnership welcomes feedback on the usefulness of these materials and suggestions for additional or more effective supports. To provide input, please contact Gaby.