Now Open for Project Applications: Second Call Under the Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program -- Supporting Demonstration Projects for Deep Building Retrofits

MONTREAL, June 13, 2023 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is taking action to fight climate change while strengthening the economy and creating good-paying jobs — including in the buildings sector. Ensuring infrastructure is well adapted to mitigate climate change impact helps improve energy performance for industry and communities and, over the long term, also helps drive down costs and supports affordability and reliability.

Today, at the Retrofit Canada Conference in Montreal, Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced a second call for proposals under the Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program, focused on demonstration projects. This call will support up to six aggregated deep energy retrofit projects in communities across the country. Targeting clusters of low-rise community housing buildings of 100 or more units per demonstration site, the proposals will explore innovative, cost-effective pathways and construction approaches for more affordable and efficient building renovations.

The program aims to accelerate the pace and scale of retrofits following the Energiesprong model adopted by the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States of America. This model aggregates homes and buildings in an entire neighbourhood into a single retrofit project, thereby reducing project costs along with energy consumption and emissions.

The call is open to housing providers (including social/affordable housing providers and housing cooperatives), community groups, Indigenous applicants and local governments in Canada. Successful applicants could each receive up to 50 percent of the total project cost, with a maximum contribution of up to $10 million per project.

Applications will be accepted until September 14, 2023.

Deep retrofit initiatives help transform the buildings sector in support of Canada's upcoming 2023 Green Buildings Strategy and align with the Net-Zero Advisory Body's recommendation to seek out opportunities to decarbonize buildings.

As Canada moves toward a net-zero emissions and climate-resilient buildings sector by 2050, collaborating with partners across the country is essential to delivering good jobs and resilient communities for generations to come.

Quotes

"Retrofitting Canada's buildings stock provides us with the opportunity to make communities more resilient to climate-related impacts while reducing emissions and utility bills, increasing energy efficiency and creating good-paying jobs in construction and maintenance. The Government of Canada opened a call for applications for projects that will enable retrofits in the buildings sector."

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Natural Resources 

"Buildings are at the heart of our communities, and they are also among the largest sources of emissions. That's why the Government of Canada is taking action to retrofit our buildings stock to be more energy-efficient and resilient to the impacts of climate change. This new call for proposals for the Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program will build on our current initiatives and support job-creating retrofits in six communities across Canada." 

Julie Dabrusin
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change 

Quick facts

• Buildings and homes are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, accounting for approximately 13 percent of Canada's emissions.
• More than two-thirds of buildings in Canada in 2050 have already been built today. Most need retrofits to make them more sustainable.
• Deep energy retrofits are major building renovation projects that can generate significant savings in energy costs. A whole-building analysis approach is used to identify retrofits such as adding insulation, replacing the roof, installing energy efficient windows or replacing the heating and cooling system with a heat pump.
• Deep energy retrofits typically reduce energy consumption by at least 50 percent and can result in significant GHG emission reductions. They reduce utility costs and operating expenses and may also include measures to improve resiliency and adaptation to climate change.
• The Greener Neighborhoods Pilot Program is based on the successful Dutch Energiesprong model, which found savings in decarbonizing multiple buildings as a group using prefabricated, panelized building envelope approaches.
• Program applicants can bring together various stakeholders to develop proposals tailored to the unique needs of their communities.
• The first call of the program, launched in February 2023, will support regional market development teams in preparing scalable deep energy retrofit roadmaps for their region.
• Since 2016, the federal government has dedicated more than $10 billion toward decarbonizing homes and buildings, and incentivizing energy-efficient retrofits.
• The Canada Greener Affordable Housing program provides forgivable and low-interest loans to help finance building retrofit measures and activities needed to meet climate goals. It also supplies contributions for pre-retrofit activities needed to plan, prepare and apply for retrofit funding. CMHC will fund 100 percent of eligible retrofit costs, up to $170,000 per unit (low-interest repayable and forgivable loans combined). Forgivable loans will be the lesser of $85,000 per unit, or 80 percent of eligible retrofit costs. Low-interest loans will be available to finance the remaining costs.

Associated links

• GNPP Demonstration Projects Call Application Guide
• Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program
• Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative
• Sustainable Communities Conference 2023 – Federation of Canadian Municipalities
• 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy
• Engagement: Canada Green Buildings Strategy
• Financing through the Canada Greener Affordable Housing Program

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SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

Natural Resources Canada, Media Relations, 343-292-6100, [email protected]; Keean Nembhard, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Natural Resources, 613-323-7892, [email protected]