Under the Regulatory Agreement on Construction Codes, provinces and territories have agreed to the timely adoption of Canada's national model building codes. Nonetheless the need to de-risk code adoption, particularly for provinces/territories to adopt upper tiers, remains. Adoption of the upper tiers, those at or approaching NZEr standards, is crucial to realizing deeper reductions in energy use and, as a result, achieving significant climate benefits.

This transition can be accelerated through the creation of a Net-Zero Building Codes Acceleration Fund of $200 million over 3 years to support market readiness for net-zero codes in provinces and municipalities. $200 MM is calculated by taking BC's spending to support the Step Code over the past five years, pro-rating by national population, and collapsing into 3 years to meet 2025 target. These activities can include, for example, costing and compliance studies as well as capacity development in building trades and municipalities to support market readiness for net-zero codes in each jurisdiction.
More specific examples of activities such a fund can support include:

1. Funding tiered energy code compliance mechanisms that reduce the financial impact of code compliance, accessible to all jurisdictions that adopt the model codes and scaled upwards for those jurisdictions adopting higher tiers.

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   For example, BC Hydro has provided incentives for the creation of checklists and templates for building officials, as well as building energy manager funding to assist municipalities in facilitating energy analysis for Energy Step Code compliance.

2. Increasing resources for programs that address industry costing concerns and technical feasibility directly and proactively while also building capacity in the buildings sector. For example, expanding the Local Energy Efficiency Partnerships (LEEP) program to jurisdictions across the country.

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   Building on BC's experience, provinces can leverage workshops and training to engage stakeholders early in the delivery of the tiered code adoption and implementation process to encourage higher take-up and more informed networks of builders, analysts, contractors, and officials.

3. Assessing training needs for tiered energy codes to determine gaps and opportunities in tiered energy code compliance. Training should begin with building capacity amongst building officials, then extend to peripheral members of the buildings sector such as realtors, suppliers and manufacturers, and utilities.
4. Development of builder field guides, checklists and other compliance tools that include illustrated examples of tiered energy code requirements, building science basics and best practices that reduce complexity and limit technical barriers.