The downplay of concern surrounding the global environment started in the United States with the White House rolling back sustainability policies and banning or discouraging the term “climate change.”
This shift can be felt around the world. The global Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) shut down this year following a wave of departures, notably from major U.S. and Canadian banks that were feeling the pressure of climate commitments and the potential legal challenges.
The result is that the lofty goals set in the Paris Climate Agreement signed in 2015 have lost traction.
“There remains a substantial gap between what governments have promised to do and the total level of actions they have undertaken to date,” the independent scientific project Climate Action Tracker. “Furthermore, both the current policy and pledge trajectories lie well above emissions pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal.”
Here in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who only a few short years ago was the UN special envoy for climate action and finance, has signalled through the recent 2025 federal budget that Canada is also backing away from the reduction of carbon emissions.
Criticism has been harsh from climate advocates.
“Congratulations, Ottawa. You have done it. You have made the dumbest climate move of the year,” the organization.
The 2025 federal budget, they say, “reads less like a climate plan and more like an oil industry press release edited by a risk-averse accountant. The long-planned emissions cap has been replaced by a fuzzy pledge to reduce ‘emissions intensity,’ bureaucratic code for ‘you can pollute more as long as you say you’re getting better at it.’”
Bloomberg the Canadian government also plans to end the rule requiring sustainability claims to be backed up by “internationally recognized methodology,” as well as removing the option for third parties like environmental groups to be able to challenge claims.
“These were modest, common-sense regulations designed to stop corporations and banks from pretending to be climate champions while financing fossil expansion,” Clean 50 says. “They had the backing of 93 per cent of Canadians, a level of consensus usually reserved for ‘puppies are cute’ and ‘winter is too long,’ and ‘Go Jays!’”
The trickle-down effect of this recent environmental deflection is clearly seen in actions by the Canada Pension Plan Investments. It announced in May the elimination of its 2050 net-zero targets for carbon emissions.
Even climate champion Bill Gates is singing a somewhat different tune these days. It was only recently that, through his venture , Gates had invested heavily in start-ups like CarbonCure and Modern Hydrogen, companies that mitigate the carbons associated with the construction industry.
Now, in a recently released memo titled “Three Tough Truths about Climate,” Gates , “Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”
Where does this leave the construction industry, the source of 40 per cent of global carbon emissions? Should it back away from its recent carbon-reduction progress?
The fact is Canada has a massive inventory of existing homes and buildings that need to be updated and retrofitted in order to improve energy efficiency. This would not only be good for the environment and save money for building owners, but represents a significant growth opportunity for the construction industry.
Yet the Canadian government has wound down the Canada Greener Homes Grant program and closed it for new applications. It has also failed to recapitalize the Greener Homes Loan program. These together had provided nearly $5 billion in loans and support for over 500,000 households across Canada.
Brendan Haley, senior director of policy strategy at Efficiency Canada, these decisions, “the latest in a series of stop-start moves that have undermined lasting progress on energy efficiency.”
Better from the 2025 budget comes in the form of the .
This will invest $51 billion over 10 years, followed by $3 billion per year ongoing, to revitalize community and regional infrastructure.
Within this, “a direct delivery stream will provide $6 billion to support regionally significant projects, large building retrofits, climate adaptation or community infrastructure. This could include clean-energy generation and storage projects, flood protection and new community and recreational spaces.”
Despite notable disappointment across the globe with respect to reduced environmental regulatory initiatives at national levels, the greening of the construction industry has not lost its way.
“Rolling those back just doesn’t financially make sense,” Camilla Taylor, executive director of the American Sustainable ȵ Network, told .
Insurance companies, foreign capital sources and tenants still want their real estate business partners to operate with resiliency in mind. State, provincial and municipal jurisdictions also still hold significant influence over building regulations.
In fact, clean-tech industries are exploding. The International Energy Agency the sector will triple in size by 2035 to more than $2 trillion, close to the value of the world’s crude oil market in recent years.
John Bleasby is a freelance writer. Send comments and Climate and Construction column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed