OTTAWA—The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and two other green building allies have announced the introduction of a new international energy efficiency investment certification program to Canada.
The CaGBC, along with Canada’s Advanced Energy Centre at MaRS Discovery District and the U.S.-based Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), issued a joint announcement Oct. 4 indicating they are bringing the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) and its Investor Ready Energy Efficiency (IREE) certification to Canada.
ICP is a global underwriting standard for developing and measuring energy efficiency retrofits and is administered by GBCI, explained a media statement. Its IREE certification signals to investors that a project has adopted best practices that can help reduce transaction costs and increase savings. The protocols are said to offer investors a consistent roadmap for assessing risk and expected outcomes from deep retrofits.
The IREE certification is currently being used by project owners, investors, engineers and insurance companies in North America and Europe, the statement indicated. Energy efficiency programs such as Pacific Gas and Electric’s On-Bill Financing Program, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Pay4Performance Program, the Connecticut Green Banks Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program, the United Kingdom’s Carbon and Energy Fund and others are also applying the IREE certification.
The CaGBC and GBCI said they are bringing ICP to Canada to facilitate the mass retrofits required to achieve green retrofitting goals announced by the federal government in its Pan-Canadian Framework.
The IREE-certified projects are intended to provide clarity on the long-term performance of energy efficiency technologies and provide the necessary assurance required to create greater access to competitive financing which will be necessary to achieve retrofits on a large scale, said the statement.
"As our recent A Roadmap for Retrofits in Canada report found, Canada’s existing building stock has the potential to reduce overall building emissions by up to 51 per cent by 2030. The biggest barrier for the industry and ownership is access to financing," said Thomas Mueller, president and CEO of the CaGBC and GBCI Canada, in the release. "We believe that the ICP can play a critical role in the acceleration of Canada’s retrofit economy by instilling investor confidence in green retrofits and by providing a tested, ready-made tool that government and industry can leverage to accelerate uptake across the country."
Supported by the Ministry of Energy in Ontario, the Advanced Energy Centre at MaRS is partnering with CaGBC and GBCI to pilot the ICP methodology for the Canadian market. The pilot will bring together owners, government, engineering firms, utilities and financial institutions with the goal of determining how ICP can help facilitate more retrofits in Canada, the statement said.
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